Preparation and properties of metakaolin-based porous geopolymer formed with sodium perborate

Abstract

This work aimed to study the use of sodium perborate as a foaming agent in the production of porous metakaolin-based geopolymer. The influence of sodium perborate foaming agent on physical properties, mechanical properties, and thermal conductivity was focused. The results revealed that the porosity and pore size increased with an increment of the additions of sodium perborate from 0.5 to 2.0 wt.%. The obtained porous geopolymers showed compressive strength of 5–6 MPa and thermal conductivity in the range of 0.22–0.32 W/mK. The addition of sodium perborate produced porous geopolymer with acceptable compressive strength and thermal conductivity.

Keywords

• Geopolymer
• sodium perborate
• mechanical strength
• porosity
• thermal conductivity