No abstract

Ordinary Portland cement is a widely favored construction material because of its good strength and durability and its reasonable price; however, spalling behaviour during fire exposure can be a serious risk that can lead to strength degradation or collapse of a building. Geopolymers, which can be synthesized by mixing aluminosilicate source materials such as metakaolin and fly ash, and alkali activators, are resistant to fire. Because the chemical composition of geopolymers controls the properties of the geopolyers, geopolymers with various Si:Al ratios were synthesized and evaluated as fire resistant construction materials. Rejected fly ash generated from a power plant was quantitatively analyzed and mixed with alkali activators to produce geopolymers having Si:Al ratios of 1.5, 2.0, and 3.5. Compressive strength of the geopolymers was measured at 28 days before and after heating at 900 o C. Geopolymers having an Si:Al ratio of 1.5 presented the best fire resistance, with a 44% increase of strength from 29 MPa to 41 MPa after heating. This material also showed the least expansion-shrinkage characteristics. Geopolymer mortar developed no spalling and presented more than a 2 h fire resistance rating at 1,050 o C during the fire testing, with a cold side temperature of 74 o C. Geopolymers have high potential as a fire resistant construction material in terms of their increased strength after exposure to fire.

Lightweight geopolymers are more readily produced and give higher fire resistant performance than foam cement concrete. Lowering the density of solid geopolymers can be achieved by inducing chemical reactions that entrain gases to foam the geopolymer structure. This paper reports on the effects of adding different concentrations of aluminum powder on the properties of cellular structured geopolymers. The apparent density of lightweight geopolymers has a range from 0.7 to 1.2 g/m 3 with 0.025, 0.05 and 0.10 wt% of a foaming agent concentration, which corresponds to about 37~60 % of the apparent density, 1.96 g/cm 3, of solid geopolymers. The compressive strength of cellular structured geopolymers decreased to 6~18 % of the compressive strength, 45 MPa of solid geopolymers. The microstructure of geopolymers gel was equivalent for both solid and cellular structured geopolymers. The workability of geopolymers with polyprophylene fibers needs to be improved as in fiber-reinforced cement concrete. The lightweight geopolymers could be used as indoor wall tile or board due to fire resistance and incombustibility of geopolymers.

Feasibility of utilizing unburned carbon residue in coal ash as a potential precursor for the production of activated carbon was assessed to seek for solution to recycle unburned carbon residue. The unburned carbon concentrate generated from the 4 stages of cleaner flotation has a grade of 87% carbon. The crystalline impurities in the concentrate included quartz and mullite. Unburned carbon had a low specific surface area of 10m 2 /g, which might be related to a high degree of coalification of domestic anthracite coal. Carbon particles were mostly porous and have a turbostratic structure. When 1g of carbon was activated with 6g of KOH powder, the highest specific surface area value of 670m 2 /g was achieved. Low wettability of unburned carbon particles, which was resulted from high temperature combustion in a boiler, might cause poor pore formation when they were activated by KOH solution. The activated carbon produced in this study developed micropores, with an equivalent quality of *

When a new bonding agent using coal ash is utilized as a substitute for cement, it has the advantages of offering a reduction in the generation of carbon dioxide and securing the initial mechanical strength such that the agent has attracted strong interest from recycling and eco-friendly construction industries. This study aims to establish the production conditions of new hardening materials using clean bottom ash and an alkali activation process to evaluate the characteristics of newly manufactured hardening materials. The alkali activator for the compression process uses a NaOH solution. This study concentrated on strength development according to the concentration of the NaOH solution, the curing temperature, and the curing time. The highest compressive strength of a compressed body appeared at 61.24MPa after curing at 60 o C for 28 days. This result indicates that a higher curing temperature is required to obtain a higher strength body. Also, the degree of geopolymerization was examined using a scanning electron microscope, revealing a micro-structure consisting of a glass-like matrix and crystalized grains. The microstructures generated from the activation reaction of sodium hydroxide were widely distributed in terms of the factors that exercise an effect on the compressive strength of the geopolymer hardening bodies. The Si/Al ratio of the geopolymer having the maximum strength was about 2.41.