Characteristics of Blended Geopolymer Concrete Using Ultrafine Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag and Copper Slag

This paper presents the properties of blended geopolymer concrete manufactured using fly ash and ultrafine Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (UFGGBFS), along with the copper slag (CPS) as replacement of fine aggregate (crushed stone sand). Various parameters considered in this study include different sodium hydroxide concentrations (10M, 12M and 14M); 0.35 as alkaline liquid to binder ratio; 2.5 as sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide ratio and cured in ambient curing condition. Further, geopolymer concrete was manufactured using fly ash as the prime source material which is replaced with UFGGBFS (0%, 5%, 10% and 15%). Copper slag has been used as replacement of fine aggregate in this study. Properties of the fresh manufactured geopolymer concrete were studied by slump test. Compressive strength of the manufactured geopolymer concrete was tested and recorded after curing for 3, 7 and 28 days. Microstructure Characterization of Geopolymer concrete specimens was done by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis. Experimental results revealed that the addition of UFGGBFS resulted in an increased strength performance of geopolymer concrete. Also, this study demonstrated that the strength of geopolymer concrete increased with an increase in sodium hydroxide concentration. SEM results revealed that the addition of UFGGBFS resulted in a dense structure.