INVESTIGATION OF KAOLIN BASED ONE PART GEOPOLYMERS

Abstract

Kaolin based one-part geopolymers (produced by adding water to preground aluminosilicate+alkali mixture) were produced in this study. The effect of silica fume addition and pre-curing time on microstructure, mechanical and mineralogical properties of geopolymers evaluated with X–ray Fluorescence (XRF), X–ray diffractometer (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FT–IR).7-day compressive strength of 66.73 MPa was obtained from kaolin-based one-part geopolymers. With the addition of silica fume, the strength enhanced up to 88.57 MPa.

Keywords

• kaolin
• geopolymer
• aluminosilicate
• silica fume
• sodium hydroxide