Optimizing Mix Proportion of Geopolymer Concrete with Steel Sludge - A Sustainable Approach

Abstract

As the construction industry is moving towards sustainable infrastructure, the need for green construction materials has gained importance in current scenario. Geopolymer concrete is considered to be an alternate to conventional concrete with cement as cement production is considered to emit more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This work has still raised the sustainable part of the geopolymer concrete by using steel sludge generated from automobile industry as partial replacement for fine aggregate. The experimental results were designed using fractional factorial design. The results were analysed for statistical integrity with ANOVA. It has been observed that the maximum compressive strength achieved with steel sludge up to 30% replacement is 48 Mpa with flexural strength of 5.16 Mpa and split tensile strength of 4.6 Mpa. Optimisation was done to find the proportion that gives maximum strength and it was ascertained with experimental validation. XRD and SEM analysis were carried out for studying the microstructure and reaction products formed in the process.

Keywords

• alkali activation
• strength
• optimisation
• durability
• polymerisation