Effect of Solid-to-Liquid Ratio on Thin Fly Ash Geopolymer

• Published in: IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering Vol. 743; no. 1; pp. 12006 - 12012
• Main Authors: Yong-Sing, Ng, Yun-Ming, Liew, Bakri Abdullah, Mohd Mustafa Al, Hui-Teng, Ng, Hussin, Kamarudin, Yong, Heah Cheng, Mohd Mortar, Nurul Aida, Sandu, Andrei Victor
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.02.2020
• Subjects: Flexural strength; Fly ash; Geopolymers; Sodium hydroxide; Sodium silicates; Workability
• ISSN: 1757-8981; 1757-899X
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/743/1/012006

The present work studies the effect of solid-to-liquid (S/L) ratio on the properties of thin fly ash-based geopolymer. The fly ash geopolymers with dimension of 160 mm × 40 mm × 10 mm were synthesised by using various S/L ratios (1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and 3.2). The alkali activator was prepared by mixing 10M sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution and sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) with the Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio of 2.5. The samples were cured at 60°C for 6 hours. The performance of fly ash geopolymers was evaluated by testing the flexural strength after 28 days. Results showed that the S/L ratio had an effect on flexural strength. The optimum flexural strength of 5.12 MPa was achieved by the fly ash geopolymer with S/L ratio of 2.5. However, the flexural strength dropped with higher S/L ratio as the workability decreases. However, further experimental lab work should be carried out as there is less knowledge in the study on the flexural strength of thin fly ash geopolymer.