Geopolymer concrete (GPC) is a new material in the construction industry, with different chemical compositions and reactions involved in a binding material. The pozzolanic materials (industrial waste like fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), and rice husk ash), which contain high silica and alumina, work as binding materials in the mix. Geopolymer concrete is economical, low energy consumption, thermally stable, easily workable, eco-friendly, cementless, and durable. GPC reduces carbon footprints by using industrial solid waste like slag, fly ash, and rice husk ash. Around one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions produced one tonne of cement that directly polluted the environment and increased the world’s temperature by increasing greenhouse gas production. For sustainable construction, GPC reduces the use of cement and finds the alternative of cement for the material’s binding property. So, the geopolymer concrete is an alternative to Portland cement concrete and it is a potential material having large commercial value and for sustainable development in Indian construction industries. The comprehensive survey of the literature shows that geopolymer concrete is a perfect alternative to Portland cement concrete because it has better physical, mechanical, and durable properties. Geopolymer concrete is highly resistant to acid, sulphate, and salt attack. Geopolymer concrete plays a vital role in the construction industry through its use in bridge construction, high-rise buildings, highways, tunnels, dams, and hydraulic structures, because of its high performance. It can be concluded from the review that sustainable development is achieved by employing geopolymers in Indian construction industries, because it results in lower CO2 emissions, optimum utilization of natural resources, utilization of waste materials, is more cost-effective in long life infrastructure construction, and, socially, in financial benefits and employment generation.

Geopolymer concrete represents the future of green and sustainable concrete. It has a large impact on the construction industry owing to its better performance than that of conventional Portland cement concrete. This study aimed to identify the effect of curing conditions on the physical, mechanical, and microstructural properties of specimens using ambient curing and oven-curing. In the experimental analysis, we tested slump and setting time for physical properties, density and drying shrinkage for chemical properties, compressive strength, indirect tensile strength, modulus of rupture, Poisson’s ratio, and elastic modulus for mechanical properties, rebound strength, and UPVT for nondestructive and X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis for microstructural analysis. After the experimental analysis, it was concluded that the density, Poisson’s ratio, and dry shrinkage were higher for ambient-cured specimens than for oven-cured specimens, whereas the compressive strength, indirect tensile strength, modulus of rupture, and elastic modulus of oven-cured specimens were higher than those of ambient-cured specimens. The nondestructive tests, rebound tests, and UPVT show that the oven-cured specimens are better in quality and strength than the ambient cured specimens. In microstructural analysis, X-ray diffraction showed that the oven-cured specimens had a lower intensity of mineral oxides than the ambient-cured specimens in microstructural analysis. The matrix of the ambient-cured specimens was thermally stable up to 8000C and retained 92% of its original mass, whereas the matrix of the oven-cured specimens retained 94% of its mass up to 8000C in the thermogravimetric analysis.

The findings of an extensive experimental research study on the usage of nano-sized cement powder and other additives combined to form cement–fine-aggregate matrices are discussed in this work. In the laboratory, dry and wet methods were used to create nano-sized cements. The influence of these nano-sized cements, nano-silica fumes, and nano-fly ash in different proportions was studied to the evaluate the engineering properties of the cement–fine-aggregate matrices concerning normal-sized, commercially available cement. The composites produced with modified cement–fine-aggregate matrices were subjected to microscopic-scale analyses using a petrographic microscope, a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). These studies unravelled the placement and behaviour of additives in controlling the engineering properties of the mix. The test results indicated that nano-cement and nano-sized particles improved the engineering properties of the hardened cement matrix. The wet-ground nano-cement showed the best result, 40 MPa 28th-day compressive strength, without mixing any additive compared with ordinary and dry-ground cements. The mix containing 50:50 normal and wet-ground cement exhibited 37.20 MPa 28th-day compressive strength. All other mixes with nano-sized dry cement, silica fume, and fly ash with different permutations and combinations gave better results than the normal-cement–fine-aggregate mix. The petrographic studies and the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) analyses further validated the above findings. Statistical analyses and techniques such as correlation and stepwise multiple regression analysis were conducted to compose a predictive equation to calculate the 28th-day compressive strength. In addition to these methods, a repeated measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was also implemented to analyse the statistically significant differences among three differently timed strength readings.

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