Study of Ambient Cured Fly Ash-GGBS-Metakaolin-Based Geopolymers Mortar

Aluminosilicate minerals serve as the starting point for the chemical process of geopolymerization, which produces binders with minimal environmental impact. Fly ash (FA) was employed as a precursor for developing these binders. However, the use of this novel binder in the construction sector is constrained since oven curing has been employed to quicken the aluminosilicate’s polycondensation. Therefore, the present work determines whether it was possible to produce binders with favorable mechanical characteristics. The precursor composite material was produced by combining sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) alkaline solutions with various mixes of FA, GGBS, and metakaolin (MK). In this study, the effect of varying alkaline solution ratios on the compressive strength of a mixture was examined. After 90 days, samples containing 55–60% FA, 30% GGBS, and 10–15% MK activated in an alkaline solution with a NaOH/Na2SiO3 ratio of 1.5 and NaOH concentration of NaOH 16 M obtained a compressive strength of around 61 MPa.