Studies on the Utilization of Alternative Fine Aggregate in Geopolymer Concrete

Development of a nation is directly dependent on the available infrastructure. Due to the tremendous growth of infrastructure, demand for building materials such as river sand and cement is also increasing day by day. As the demand for river sand increases; large volume of sand is extracted from the rivers resulting in many adverse environmental effects as well as increase in cost. The cement production is also to be increased to meet these demands and this production has a very bad impact on environment due to CO₂ emission. In order to reduce both these problems, an eco-friendly solution using sea sand and crushed sand as alternative fine aggregate in geopolymer concrete (GPC) is proposed. In this study, an M40 grade GPC with fly ash and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag as binder and a combination of hydroxide and silicates of sodium is used as reaction liquid. Various tests like compression, flexure, split tension, water absorption, sorptivity and Rapid Chloride Permeability were carried out. It is found that, performance of GPC with sea sand and crushed sand are comparable or marginally higher than that of GPC made of river sand in terms of mechanical and durable properties.