The properties of amorphous geopolymer with silica fume addition after heat treatment was rarely reported in the geopolymer field. Geopolymer was prepared by mixing fly ash and alkali activator. The silica fume was added in 2% and 4% by weight. The geopolymer samples were cured at room temperature for 28 days before exposed to an elevated temperature up to 1000 °C. The incorporation of 2% silica fume did not cause significant improvement in the compressive strength of unexposed geopolymer. Higher silica fume content of 4% reduced the compressive strength of the unexposed geopolymer. When subjected to elevated temperature, geopolymer with 2% silica fume retained higher compressive strength at 1000 °C. The addition of silica fume in fly ash geopolymer caused a lower degree of shrinkage and expansion, as compared to geopolymer without the addition of silica fume. Crystalline phases of albite and magnetite were formed in the geopolymer at 1000 °C.

This paper investigates the effect of incorporation of lightweight aggregate and foam in the preparation of lightweight aggregate geopolymer concrete (LWAGC) and lightweight aggregate foamed geopolymer concrete (LWAFGC). The geopolymer paste was formed by alkali activation of Class F fly ash in mixture of sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide solution. LWAGC was incorporated with expanded clay lightweight aggregate and river sand while hydrogen peroxide was added as foaming agent for LWAFGC. Results showed that LWAGC and LWAFGC achieved an excellent 28-day compressive strength of 60 MPa and 20 MPa, respectively. The bulk densities were 1815 kg/m3 for LWAGC and 1593 kg/m3 for LWAFGC. Even so, low thermal conductivity of 0.12 W/mK and 0.09 W/mK were reported. It was concluded that the joint effect of lightweight aggregate and foam produced geopolymer concrete with good mechanical strength while having excellent thermal insulating properties. The geopolymer concretes possessed high strength-to-density ratio to be regarded as lightweight high-performance structures.

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Abstract:The aim of the study was to utilize polyaniline (PAni) as conductive filler in poly (ethylene oxide) / poly (vinyl chloride) (PEO/PVC) films. Naphthalene was used as surface modifier to increase the properties of PEO/PVC/PAni films. The electrical conductivity of PEO/PVC/PAni film improved with higher loading of PAni until it reached the percolation threshold at 10 wt%. Moreover, the conductivity of the films also improved with the addition of naphthalene compared to the films without naphthalene. These enhancements were due to the improved interfacial bonding between PEO/PVC blend and PAni, which were supported by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. In addition, no new chemical bonding was created with the incorporation of naphthalene as proved by the FTIR analysis.

Manufacturing of Portland cement consists of high volume of natural aggregates which depleted rapidly in today construction field. New substitutable material such as bottom ash replace and target for comparable properties with hydraulic or pozzolanic properties as Portland cement. This study investigates the replacement of different sizes of bottom ash into Portland cement by reducing the content of Portland cement and examined the mechanism between bottom ash (BA) and Portland cement. A cement composite developed by 10% replacement with 1, 7, 14, and 28 days of curing and exhibited excellent mechanical strength on day 28 (34.23 MPa) with 63 mm BA. The porous structure of BA results in lower density as the fineness particles size contains high specific surface area and consume high quantity of water. The morphology, mineralogical, and ternary phase analysis showed that pozzolanic reaction of bottom ash does not alter but complements and integrates the cement hydration process which facilitate effectively the potential of bottom ash to act as construction material.