Thermal Properties of Geopolymer Based on Fayalite Waste from Copper Production and Metakaolin

Abstract

In the present study, thermal properties of geopolymer paste, based on fayalite waste from copper producing plants and metakaolin, were analyzed. The used activator solution was a mixture of sodium water glass, potassium hydroxide and water with the following molar ratio: SiO2/M2O = 1.08, H2O/M2O = 15.0 and K2O/Na2O = 1.75. High strength geopolymers pastes were evaluated after exposure to 400, 800 and 1150 °C. The physical properties (absolute and apparent density, water absorption) and compressive strength were determined on the initial and the heat treated samples. The phase composition, microstructure and spectroscopic characteristics were examined by XRD, SEM-EDS, FTIR and Mössbauer spectroscopy, respectively. The structure of the heat-treated geopolymers differs in the outer and inner layers of the specimens due to variation in the phase composition. The outer layer was characterized by a reddish color and more rigidity, while the inner core was black and less viscous at elevated temperatures. The results showed that geopolymer pastes based on fayalite are fire-resistant up to 1150 °C. Moreover, after heat treatment at this temperature, the compressive strength increased by 75% to 139 MPa, while water absorption reduced by about 9 times to 1.2%. These improvements are explained with the crystallization of the geopolymer gel to leucite and K,Na-sanidine, and substitutions of Al/Fe in the geopolymer gel and iron phases.

Factors Affecting the Properties of Slag-Based Alkali-Activated Materials

“…The band at 2966 cm −1 is a ributed to stretching and bending H-O-H vibrations of bound water molecules [8]. First, the band seen at 465 cm −1 in ENS corresponds to symmetric bending Si-O, while the bands observed at 800, 1023, 1092, and 1257 cm −1 are attributed to the asymmetric stretching vibration of Si-O-T bonds (T = Si or Al) [9,10]. Furthermore, the broad band seen at 1388 cm −1 denotes the presence of water due to bending vibrations of O-H bonds.…”