Investigation of the Effect of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) Content on the Properties of Lightweight Geopolymer Concrete

In this current research, the influences of local ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) content on the properties of lightweight geopolymer concrete were illustrated. The lightweight geopolymer concrete was produced by mixing a geopolymer binder with fine aggregate and keramzite as coarse aggregate. Six ratios of fly ash and GGBS (100–0%; 80–20%; 60–40%; 40–60%; 20–80% and 0–100% by weight) were employed to manufacture the geopolymer binder. In this study, the sodium silicate solution is only used as an alkaline liquid. The properties of lightweight geopolymer concrete were evaluated by using compression test, indirect tension test and flexural test. The experimental results indicate that the highest compressive strength of lightweight geopolymer concrete is 41.73 MPa with 100% GGBS content. The indirect tensile strength is about 0.45–4.67 MPa. The flexural strength of this kind of geopolymer concrete ranges from 0.88 MPa to 4.63 MPa.