Utilization of expanded clay aggregates in sustainable lightweight geopolymer concrete

The lightweight sustainable construction composites prepared with the waste materials are enormously utilized for the construction activities. The geopolymer concrete (GPC) has emerged as the sustainable construction composite and holds potential to get modified as the lightweight composite. To confirm the sustainability attributes and feasibility of the lightweight material for the strength adequacy, the lightweight geopolymer concrete (LWGPC) was prepared with the expanded clay aggregates (ECA) is evaluated for density, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, impact resistance and the ultrasonic pulse velocity response. The sustainability attributes of LWGPC were evaluated by the environment impact assessment (EIA). The objective was to ensure the feasibility of the LWGPC for the lightweight construction applications and the impacts of the composite on the environment. The results showed significant reduction of the density of the composite due to the ECA (0–100% by weight of the natural aggregates). With the replacement of the natural aggregates up to 50% the composite performed fairly well for all the test conditions. The EIA explorations of LWGPC over the GPC showed clear advantages of energy efficiency, reduced CO₂ emission on manufacturing and adequate strength properties of the new composite.