Influence of curing media on properties of alkali-treated paddy straw-based lightweight geopolymer composites

This research mainly focused on studying the influence of various curing media on the properties of lightweight geopolymer composites. Here, Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS), Paddy straws, and the combination of sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide at the ratio of 2.5:1 were used to produce geopolymer composites. For this experiment, two different parameters, i.e., variation of paddy straw (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20%) and variation of curing media (Intermittent, Heat, and Saline water), were chosen. The compressive strength of a 20% addition of paddy straw is dramatically reduced by 88.6%, while the density is reduced to 40.42%. Maximum flexure and tensile strength were noted as 65.11 and 45.5%, respectively, for the 15% addition of paddy straw. An interesting fact found from the samples cured under Saline water enhanced the overall compressive strength, tensile and flexural strength by 12.85, 45.5, and 21.2%, respectively, compared to the other two curing media.