Effect of solid-to-liquid ratio on thin fly ash geopolymer

Abstract

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.