Professional Documents
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Composites Part B
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesb
A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Geopolymer mortar refers to the mortar manufactured with sand and geopolymer, which is composed by the
Geopolymer mortar base materials containing affluent aluminium and silicon that was activated by adopting alkaline solution to
Physical properties serve as a binder. The investigation of the properties and application of the geopolymer mortar has attracted
Fresh properties more and more attention of the researchers and cement based industries because of its sustainability advantages.
Mechanical properties
This study reviews the properties of the geopolymer mortars including fresh performance (workability, setting
Durability
time, and temperature of fresh mortar), physical properties, mechanical properties (compressive strength, tensile
Microstructure
strength, elastic properties, flexural performance, bonding behavior, and fracture behavior), durability prop-
erties (acid resistance, resistance to elevated temperature, frost resistance, water absorption, and shrinkage
properties) and microstructure analysis. This study also reviews the properties of different types of geopolymer
mortars prepared using various source materials as base materials. The current study results indicate that the
geopolymer mortar has exhibited significant feasibility and application prospect to be used as an environmental
friendly building material, which may be an appropriate replacement to the traditional cement mortar in the
future.
1. Introduction last twenty years, although the emission of CO2 for each ton of cement
production has been decreased from 750 kg to 640 kg, the production of
Cement is a traditional manmade raw material in cementitious cement has greatly increased and the quantity is still on the rise [3].
construction materials, which has the largest consumption in all kinds About 4 billion tons and 7% emissions of CO2 each year all over the
of binding materials [1]. For every human being, almost a ton of cement world has been reported because the production of cement [4].
has been produced each year. Especially in China, the cement output Therefore, it is an urgent need to develop a new applicable binding
has ranked the first for more than 30 years throughout the world since material to substitute the traditional cement in construction industries
1985 with the development of cement industry. The traditional Port- against environmental pollution by minimizing the emission of CO2, the
land cement is produced through the technology of “two grinding and other pollutive gases and waste dust [5]. Some researchers have pro-
one calcinating” using limestone, clay, etc. as raw materials and the duced some new materials replacing the traditional cement totally or in
calcination temperature in the production process will reach 1450 °C. In part, and geopolymeric material is the most potential binder material
China, approximately, one billion tons of limestone, 180 million tons of [6].
clay, 50 million tons of iron powder, 100 million tons of coal, and 60 A new aluminosilicate material with three-dimensional reticular
billion kw/h electricity have been consumed per year in cement pro- structure named with Geopolymer was first introduced by Davidovits in
duction industry. Every ton of cement approximately manufactures 1 kg 1979, which was composed by the base materials containing affluent
sulfur dioxide (SO2), 2 kg of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and 10 kg dust. aluminium and silicon that was activated by adopting alkaline solution
As a result, the traditional cement production belongs to high energy- to serve as a binder [7,8]. The geopolymer is ceramic-like and similar to
consuming, high resource-consuming and high environmental burden the zeolite in terms of its chemical structure, however has an amor-
industry. Not only that, but cement industry has turned into a major phous structure. It can quickly harden at ambient temperatures and
source of greenhouse gas emissions. Twenty years ago, the average gain mechanical strength and excellent durability. In other words,
carbon intensity of cement production in the world was very high, and geopolymers are formed as a product of alkali activation of alumino-
statistically, about 810 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) was produced in the silicate materials, including base materials, such as fly ash, granulated
manufacturing process of each ton of cement [2]. During the course of blast furnace slag, etc. The properties of geopolymers are largely
∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yxzheng@zzu.edu.cn (Y. Zheng).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2018.06.031
Received 16 April 2018; Received in revised form 2 June 2018; Accepted 26 June 2018
Available online 30 June 2018
1359-8368/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
P. Zhang et al. Composites Part B 152 (2018) 79–95
Table 1 can absorb a large number of alkali metal ions, which can weaken the
Base materials used in geopolymer production. alkali-aggregate reaction inside the composite. Most importantly, there
Classification Base materials Abbreviation are abundant sources of raw materials of geopolymer, and the pro-
duction of geopolymer is characterized as low energy consumption and
Fly ash Fly ash [9,10] FA low pollution. Therefore, the geopolymer has significant application
Bottom ash [13] BA
prospect as a kind of binding material in construction materials to re-
Circulated fluidized bed combustion fly ash CFBCFA
[14]
place the Portland cement.
Palm oil fuel ash [15] POFA The traditional cement mortar often serves as one common binding
Volcanic ash [18] VA material and repairing material that widely used in all kinds of en-
High calcium fly ash [20] HCFA gineering structures. A lot of researchers have discussed the feasibility
Waste paper sludge ash [24] WPSA
and application prospect of geopolymer mortar being used as an ap-
Rice husk ash [25] RHA
propriate replacement to the traditional cement mortar [33–37]. The
Slag Ground granulated blast furnace slag [11] GGBFS first study of geopolymer mortar was conducted by Sathonsaowaphak
Ultrafine ground granulated blast furnace slag UGGBFS [38], who investigated the influence of bottom ash fineness, the ratio of
[12]
ash to liquid alkaline, the ratio of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to sodium
Air cooled slag [21] ACS
Steel slag [22] SS
silicate (Na2SiO3), NaOH concentration, the ratio of water to ash, and
Ferrochrome slag [26] FS superplasticizer on working performance and compressive strength of
geopolymer mortars, which was prepared adopting the waste materials
Other wastes Metakaolin [16] ─ and using NaSiO3 and NaOH solution as liquid for the mortar mixture,
Kaolin [17] ─
and their results indicate that the mechanical strength for geopolymer
Clay [19] ─
Ground perlite [23] GP mortar reaches 24–58 MPa, and the incorporation of NaOH solution can
Silica waste [27] SW slightly improve working performance of geopolymer mortar without
strength reduction. Detphan and Chindaprasirt in Thailand [39] first
prepared high strength geopolymer mortars applying fly ash and rice
dependent on the characteristics of the base materials (chemical com- husk ash, which were activated with NaSiO3, NaOH and heat. They
position, content of glassy phase, amount of soluble silicon and alu- tested the density and strength of the geopolymer mortars with dif-
minum, particle size distribution, and presence of inert particles). There ferent rice husk ash dosages, and concluded that the fineness of RHA,
are many kinds of source materials suitable to be used as base materials the ration of NaSiO3 to NaOH, and the ratio of rice husk ash to fly ash
for geopolymer production, which are shown in Table 1. The content of determine the strength of geopolymer mortars. During the past several
glassy phase, particle morphology, fineness, mineralogical structure, years, with the deepening study of green construction materials and the
chemical composition of the base materials has significant influence on diversification for preparation technology of the geopolymer, the geo-
the activity of the aluminosilicate sources. The excellent base materials polymer mortar has received particular attraction to be used as the
should have enough content of spherical glass beads, and possess an replacement of the traditional cement mortar. Many investigators have
exceedingly amorphous structure, outstanding ability to easily release devoted themselves into the study of the preparation technology and
aluminium, and low water demand [1]. The alkaline solution used for properties of geopolymer mortar. The main objective of the current
geopolymer preparation often includes water glass or sodium silicate article is to present research progress in regard to related investigation
(Na2SiO3), sodium hydroxide, and potassium hydroxide (NaOH and in geopolymer mortars. The properties of the geopolymer mortar in-
KOH) [28]. During the curing of geopolymer, the temperature is often clude fresh performance, physical properties, microstructural analysis,
higher than the ambient temperature, and the geopolymer should be durability and mechanical behavior.
cured for 24–28 h under the temperature range of 60–100 °C. After the
curing with high temperature, the geopolymer can be cured under room 2. Properties of fresh geopolymer mortar
temperature.
The geopolymer has high early strength because its hardening time 2.1. Workability
is very short. The hardening time of the traditional cement ranges from
10-12 h, while the geopolymer often hardens in 2–4 h. The strength of Workability of fresh geopolymer mortar is an important property,
the geopolymer with 4 h curing can reach 70% of its ultimate strength. which determines the properties of hardened geopolymer mortar.
In this respect, the strength characteristics of the geopolymer are si- Generally, water is used to control flowability of fresh mortars with no
milar to that of the fast hardening cement, however, its physical obvious strength decrease [40]. The workability of mortar is often
properties are better than that of the fast hardening cement [29]. The evaluated by flow, which can be measured through flow test. Flow is
skeleton structure of the geopolymer belongs to oxides system, and as a usually used to evaluate the working performance of fresh mortars,
result, it will not oxidize and decompose under the high temperature of which is shown in the percent of the initial base diameter according to
1000–1200 °C. Meanwhile, its interior mass can not be oxidized because ASTM C 1437-07 standard [41]. The testing devices include a flow
the high density can keep out the air, and it has excellent heat insula- mould, trowel, tamper, flow table, and measuring tape. Through the
tion effect [30]. The geopolymer obtains wonderful acid resistance test of flow, the fresh properties of workability, filling ability, and the
because it is difficult for both of Si-O bond Al-O bond in the network consistency of the mortar can be obtained.
structure of the geopolymer to react with acid under room temperature, Li et al. [42] stated that adding polymer powder reduced the fluidity
and the geopolymer exhibits excellent stability in various acid solution of the geopolymer mortars, and there was a trend of decrease in fluidity
and organic solvent [31]. As was reported, the decomposition rate of with the increase of polymer powder content. Jumrat et al. [7] showed
the geopolymer in 5% sulfuric acid solution is just one-thirteenth of that that the flow value of the geopolymer mortar decreased with the in-
of the Portland cement, and its decomposition rate in 5% hydrochloric creasing of fly ash/alkaline solution ratio and Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio
acid is just one-twelfth of that of the Portland cement [32]. Compared because of the high viscosity of Na2SiO3 solution, and more water
with cement, shrinkage of geopolymer is much lower, and the shrinkage should be added to obtain the workable geopolymer mortar. The in-
coefficients of the geopolymer after curing of 7 days and 28 days are crease of Na2SiO3 component caused the rapid formation and higher
just 1/5-1/7 and 1/8-1/9 of that of the Portland cement, respectively. viscosity of the binder, and the temperature of the fresh mortar will
The geopolymer also has better bonding behavior with the interface of increase with the increase of the level of NaOH and Na2SiO3 [43]. The
the aggregates compared with the Portland cement. The geopolymer study of Bhowmick and Ghosh [44] shows that the increment of ash/
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P. Zhang et al. Composites Part B 152 (2018) 79–95
Fig. 5. Flow of geopolymer mortar with various water/ash ratios [38]. Fig. 6. Influence of molarity of NaOH on setting times of geopolymer mortar
[57].
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Fig. 9. Effect of Portland cement content on setting times of geopolymer mortar Fig. 10. Influence of Na2SiO3 on temperature of fresh mortars [43].
[60].
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hydroxide solution has no obvious influence on the alkalinity of geo- they concluded that Weibull distribution is suited to analyzing of the
polymer mortars, and the highest PH value of geopolymer mortars is blended geopolymer mortars. GGBFS, POFA and low calcium FA can be
lower than PH value of the common cement mortars [46]. That means used together to manufacture geopolymer mortars on condition that
that the alkali-aggregate reaction will rarely happen even though plenty their proportion should be suitable. Through a series of experiments,
of alkaline solution is used during the course of the geopolymer mortar Islam et al. [70] achieved the geopolymer mortars, the maximum
preparation. compressive strength of which reached approximate 66 MPa with the
The influence of GGBS content on the apparent porosity of geopo- binder composed by 70% of GGBFS and 30% of POFA.
lymer mortar was studied by Al-Majidi [52] and he concluded that Sathonsaowaphak [38] studied influence of the BA fineness,
increasing content of GGBS led to great decrease of the apparent por- Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio, liquid alkaline/ash ratio and concentration of
osity of geopolymer mortars. Yan and Sagoe-Crentsil [49] measured the NaOH on compressive strength of geopolymer mortars. Vasconcelos
bulk density and water absorption of geopolymer mortars containing et al. [71] stated that compressive strength of metakaolin based geo-
wastepaper sludge, and they concluded that the mortar exhibited polymers mortar was enhanced by larger NaOH concentration when the
higher water absorption after being boiled in water, while the mortar curing period exceeded 7 days. However, for HCFA based geopolymers,
showed lower water absorption after immersion in water and the bulk much higher NaOH concentration may lower its compressive strength,
density decreased with the paper sludge content was increasing from which is contrary to the case of LCFA based geopolymer mortar [20].
0% to 10%. The results of Shadnia et al. [65] show that there is obvious Mijarsh [72] reported that decreasing Na2SiO3 concentration through
variation in specific gravity of the geopolymer mortars with various increasing water content had great contribution on the compressive
dosage of phase change material, and the unit weight decreases with strength of geopolymer mortar only after the mortar was cured within
more incorporation of phase change material. 30 days, and the geopolymers mortar produced with high Na2SiO3
Ranjbar et al. [66] measured the density of the geopolymer mortar concentration exhibited the highest development in compressive
after 28-day curing with partial fly ash replaced with POFA and found strength applying one day delay time after moulding. Bhowmick and
that the replacement of fly ash by POFA greatly reduced bulk density of Ghosh [44] revealed the impact of SiO2/N2O ratio and water/FA ratio
the geopolymer mortar, and larger replacement led to greater reduction on compressive of geopolymer mortar. The effect of increasing molar
in bulk density. The Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio has significant effect on ratio of SiO2/N2O on compressive strength of the mortar is not the same
physical properties of geopolymer mortar prepared with bottom ash with different Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio. As can be seen from Fig. 13, the
[67]. The apparent density, porosity, average pore radius and surface compressive strength decreases with the increase of Na2SiO3 molar
area of the foamed specimens of the geopolymer mortar are reducing ratio when Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio is 1 or 2, whereas the compressive
with the increment of NaOH, while the density has a trend of in- strength increases with increment of molar ratio when Na2SiO3/NaOH
creasing. Abdollahnejad et al. [37] compared the water absorption ratio is 1.5 or 2.5 [73].
coefficient and capillarity coefficient of geopolymer mortars with dif- The ratios of FA to NaOH, Na2SiO3 and sand differently affect the
ferent contents of fly ash and calcined kaolin and sodium hydroxide. compressive strength of geopolymer mortars. As can be found from
The similar water absorption by immersion was found for all mortars Figs. 14–16 [43], the effect of sand/fly ash ratio is irregular, however,
because of the similar water/binder ratio, and very high capillary water the compressive strength is increasing with the increment of Na2SiO3/
absorption was found for the geopolymer mortar containing 8% cal- fly ash ratio. With the NaOH/FA ratio increasing from 0.05 to 0.125,
cined stuff due to the large amount of capillary pores. compressive strength of the mortar increases first, and then decreases.
The results of Adak et al. [59] indicate that addition of 6% nano- The binder/sand ratio also affects the compressive strength of geopo-
SiO2 in geopolymer mortar with different molar concentration can de- lymer mortars. As is shown in Fig. 17, compressive strength of the
crease the water absorption of geopolymer mortars because of the mortar increases with binder/sand ratio increasing from 0.25 to 0.5,
modification of nano particles to the microstructure of the mortar. whereas there is an decreasing tendency in compressive strength with
According to the results of sorptivity tests conducted by Deb et al. [54], binder/sand ratio rising from 0.5 to 4.0 [74]. The results of Temuujin
it can be found that the incorporation of nano-SiO2 decreased the et al. [75] indicated that the bond between geopolymer binder to ag-
sorptivity coefficient of geopolymer mortars, which was likely due to gregate and the strength of geopolymers determined the compressive
the precipitation of some additional reaction products in the possible strength of the mortar.
pore structures. Khater et al. [21] concluded that the addition of multi The compressive strength of geopolymer mortars is dependent on
walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) would decrease the water absorp- their porous structure, which is associated with the type of sand and the
tion of geopolymer mortars when the MWCNT dosage is less than 0.1% sand ratio. The impact of incorporation of limestone sand on the
and then increase with more additions of MWCNT. strength of geopolymers mortars is worthy of discussion. Arellano-
Aguilar [76] stated that the addition of limestone sand in geopolymer
4. Mechanical performance of geopolymer mortar mortars will reduce the strength of the mortar, however, the green
construction materials can be achieved by the using limestone sand
4.1. Compressive strength with sand/binder ratio of up to 7:1. However, Zejak [77] concluded
that compressive strength of FA based geopolymers mortar was in-
As mentioned before, there are many kinds of source materials creased by addition of limestone sand because the existence of the sand
suitable to be used as base materials for geopolymer production. Every with well connected grains changed the gel phase of the geopolymer
raw material and the proportioning parameters of geopolymer mortars structure. The results of Bashar [78,79] indicated that the geopolymers
affect the strength of geopolymer mortar. Ismail [68] studied early mortar prepared with 100% manufactured sand and quarry dust has no
strength characteristics of geopolymer mortar produced by metakaolin obvious strength decrease compared to the geopolymers mortar pre-
and palm oil fuel ash with different replacement levels of NaOH and pared with 100% conventional mining sand. Steinerova [63] concluded
Na2SiO3 medium. Ranjbar et al. [66] concluded that the composition of that compressive strength of geopolymer mortar was increasing with
POFA as well as the surface area and particle shapes of POFA has great the increment of sand ratio for low dosage of sand, while the com-
effect on compressive strength of the geopolymer mortar. Besides, their pressive strength reduced above the point of 78 wt. % of sand.
results also indicated that the geopolymerization process was delayed The curing method greatly influenced compressive strength of
and early compressive strength of the mortars decreased with incre- geopolymer mortars. At early stage, compressive strengths of the FA
ment of silica to alumina ratio due to the increasing dosage of POFA. geopolymer mortars with both of oven curing and steam curing at 60 °C
Yusuf [69] investigated the influence of blending of silica rich POFA for 24 h are higher than the mortar cured under traditional standard
with metakaolin on strength distribution of geopolymer mortars and curing condition, however, the traditional standard curing method has
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Fig. 14. Impact of Na2SiO3 on compressive of geopolymer mortar [43]. Fig. 15. Impact of NaOH on compressive of geopolymer mortar [43].
advantages on the strength development [80]. Patankar et al. [46] also compressive strength of geopolymer mortar at the curing temperature
showed that compressive strength of geopolymer mortars cured for 3 of 85 °C when NaOH concentration and curing time increased, and the
days was accelerated with increase of heating degree of oven curing, optimal NaOH concentration and curing temperature to obtain the
while the strength increased little after the curing of oven heating be- excellent strength were 6 M and 85 °C, respectively. Helmy [81] studied
yond 3 days. The results of Li et al. [45] showed geopolymer mortars the intermittent curing method of geopolymer mortars with curing at
containing Class C FA at temperature of 70 °C and duration of curing for 70 °C for 4 steps (each step for 6 h) per day and then resting 18 h, and it
20 h could obtain highest compressive strength. However, Adam and can be observed that the intermittent curing can improve compressive
Horianto [8] found that geopolymer mortars containing FA obtained strength of geopolymer mortar. Narayanan and Shanmugasundaram
highest compressive strength with the curing of 120 °C for 20 h. Gorhan [82] compared different curing methods of geopolymer mortars, such
and Kurklu [64] found that there was an increasing tendency in as hot air oven curing, heat chamber, ambient temperature and
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P. Zhang et al. Composites Part B 152 (2018) 79–95
autoclave, and found that the geopolymer mortar cured at 80 °C for 6 h 4.2. Tensile strength
exhibited the highest compressive strength. Mermerdas et al. [83] ob-
served that the increment of curing stage temperature of light-weight As well as cement concrete and mortar, the geopolymer mortar is
geopolymer mortar increased the compressive strength of mortars. generally acknowledged to have excellent performance under the ac-
Through experiment study of treated POFA based geopolymer tion of compressive load. On the other hand, the tensile performance of
mortar, Mijarsh et al. [84] observed the compressive strength of the construction materials also needs to be paid attention to because its
prepared mortars could be improved greatly with alkali-activator anti-cracking ability depends on it. Guades [91] evaluated the tensile
source material replaced by Ca(OH)2. The results of Shadnia et al. [65] properties of geopolymer mortars through experiments. As is shown in
showed that the incorporation of phase change materials reduced the Fig. 18, the tensile strength of geopolymer mortars increases gradually
compressive strength of geopolymer mortars because of low stiffness with increasing of sand/fly ash ratio as curing stage varies from 7 days
and strength of phase change materials. The addition of phase change to 28 days. Chuah et al. [92] compared the mean tensile strength of
materials in geopolymer mortars can reduce the transport heat, and as a geopolymer mortar specimens with the design strength of ACI standard,
result, the geopolymer mortar containing phase change materials can and presented that the splitting tensile strength of geopolymer mortar
be used to decrease the energy demand in cooling and heating in rural could meet the design requirements given by the ACI code regardless of
regions [19]. Nguyen et al. [6] prepared geopolymer mortars using two the sand type.
kinds of thermogenetic admixtures including quicklime and the hot Al-Majidi et al. [52] produced geopolymer mortars using GGBFS
pack material, and concluded that the geopolymer mortar containing and FA. Based on the results of direct tensile strength, they observed
quicklime exhibited higher compressive strength than the mortar con- that incorporation of GGBFS had positive effect on tensile performance
taining hot pack materials. of the mortars at curing stage of 7 days and 28 days. From Fig. 19, it can
Cyr et al. [85] produced geopolymer mortars using alkali-activated be found that there is an increasing trend in tensile strength of geo-
glass cullet, and their results showed that glass fineness markedly af- polymer mortars with increasing of the slag dosage. Zhang [93] stated
fected the compressive strength development of the mortars and the that geopolymer mortars (GM) always exhibited higher tensile strength
glass with finest particles led to the highest compressive strength for the than the cement mortars (CM) and cement mortars (PMCM) modified
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P. Zhang et al. Composites Part B 152 (2018) 79–95
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P. Zhang et al. Composites Part B 152 (2018) 79–95
Fig. 21. Dynamic modulus of various contents of high calcium wood ash [96]. Fig. 22. Flexural strength with different molar concentration [59].
4.4. Flexural properties results indicated that the flexural strength of geopolymer mortars de-
creases gradually as dosage increment of high calcium wood ash no
For cement mortars, the mortar with high compressive strength matter which curing method was applied.
usually has high flexural strength. However, the geopolymer mortar The incorporation of nano-SiO2 in geopolymer mortars has great
exhibits high flexural with low compressive strength because of the reinforcement on flexural strength of the mortar. The influence of nano
excellent adherence of geopolymer paste to the aggregate particles and silica on flexural strength at 28 days of the geopolymer mortar with
the remarkable fragility of the geopolymer [85]. Sand content has different molarity of the activator solution is shown in Fig. 22. As can
significant effect on flexural strength of geopolymer mortars. According be seen from the figure, the geopolymer mortar containing 6% nano
to the results of Steinerova [63], there is an increasing tendency in silica exhibits higher flexural strength than the mortar without nano
flexural strength of geopolymer mortars with increment of sand addi- particles, and flexural strength of the geopolymer mortars increases
tion, and the flexural strength reaches its peak value at the sand content gradually with the increment of molar concentration of activator so-
of 78%. After the sand content exceeds 78%, the flexural strength starts lution regardless of adding nano silica [59]. Lee et al. [53] showed that
to decline due to the lack of binder among the grains, which leads to the incorporation of styrene-butadiene (SB) latex increased the flexural
forming the coarse-pore and the rising in porosity. strength of geopolymer mortars in spite of that the alkalinity of the
The solution types of alkali activator and curing temperature affect geopolymer matrix was reduced, and the flexural strength of the mortar
the flexural strength of geopolymer mortar significantly. Huseien et al. rises because of the usage of coarse bottom ash in spite of decreasing in
[48] found that geopolymer mortars have higher flexural strength with 28-day compressive strength. The flexural strength of geopolymer
curing of 27 °C than the mortar with curing of 60 °C and 90 °C, and the mortars can be improved with the substitution of fly ash by GGBS. As is
solution of sodium aluminosilicate hydrate acting as the activator re- shown from Fig. 23, the flexural strength of the mortar cured under
sulted in lower flexural strength than the solution of sodium hydroxide. ambient temperature increases gradually with the substitution rate of
The results of Li et al. [80] showed that the geopolymer mortars pro- slag increasing from 10% to 40% [52].
duced with Class C FA with oven curing had highest early flexural
strength, and the early flexural strength of the geopolymer mortars
produced with Class F FA could be improved by the incorporation of
calcium hydroxide and slag with the standard curing. Atis et al. [97]
investigated the variation of flexural strength of geopolymer mortars
containing various contents of sodium and cured for 24, 48 and 72 h
with the heat curing temperature varying from 45 to 115 °C. The results
indicated that the geopolymer mortar incorporating 14% sodium being
cured for 24 h under the temperature of 115 °C had the highest flexural
strength, while the geopolymer mortar incorporating 4% sodium after
105 °C heat curing for 24 h possessed the lowest flexural strength.
Circulating fluidized bed combustion bottom ash can be used as the
fine aggregate in manufacturing geopolymer mortars. When the ratio of
bottom ash to fly ash is increased from 0 to 3, the flexural strength of 7
days and 28 days of the geopolymer mortar increases first, and then has
a trend of decreases after reaching the maximum value at the bottom
ash/fly ash ratio of 1 [50]. Ban [98] conducted an investigation on the
geopolymer mortar block using HCWA and pulverized fuel ash as ac-
tivator. Based on the results, they concluded that the flexural strength
of the mortar blocks rose steadily as the increment in sodium silicate
dosage due to the formation of higher degree of geopolymeric gel of K-
A-S-H and N-A-S-H. Ban [96] investigated geopolymer mortars with fly
ash replaced by high calcium wood ash at different levels, and their
Fig. 23. Flexural strength with different slag contents [52].
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Fig. 24. Bonding strength of various repair mortars [101]. Fig. 26. Fracture toughness of geopolymer mortar [58].
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P. Zhang et al. Composites Part B 152 (2018) 79–95
Fig. 28. Influence of elevated temperature on compressive strength [110]. Fig. 29. Effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes dosage on water absorption
[21].
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Fig. 32. Drying shrinkage with different dosage of wastepaper sludge [49].
Fig. 30. Water absorption of various BFS contents and curing time [116].
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dosage of GGBS resulted in higher dense structure of the geopolymer elevated temperature, frost resistance, water absorption, shrinkage
mortar [54]. Cyr et al. [85] analyzed the microstructural character- properties and microstructure of the hardened geopolymer mortar were
ization of the geopolymer mortars made of glass cullet through SEM, discussed. This study has reviewed the above-mentioned properties of
EDX and XRD tests. The results of elemental analysis indicated that different types of geopolymer mortars prepared using various source
there was no definite difference between the phase containing C-S-H materials as base materials, such as common FA, GGBFS, BA, circulated
hydration products and the geopolymer phase. As is shown from the fluidized bed combustion FA, POFA, metakaolin, kaolin, volcanic ash,
SEM image of fracture surface of geopolymer mortar samples in- clay, high calcium fly ash, air cooled slag, steel slag, ground perlite,
corporating phase change material, the amount of the broken particles waste paper sludge ash, rice husk ash, ferrochrome slag, and silica
on fracture surface is increasing with the increase of the dosage of the waste. The current study results indicate that the geopolymer mortar
phase change material, which may be due to that the shear strength of has exhibited significant feasibility and application prospect to be used
the phase change material is low and some particles of the phase change as an environmental friendly building material, which may be an ap-
material will be failed during the course of shearing [65]. propriate replacement to the traditional cement mortar in the future.
The incorporation of nano-SiO2 can change the morphology of the
geopolymer mortars. The geopolymer mortar containing 6% SiO2 nano- Acknowledgements
particles consists of a higher quantity of crystalline compound con-
verted from amorphous compound than the geopolymer mortars The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support re-
without nano-particles [59]. The existence of nano-particles has ex- ceived from Open Projects Funds of Dike Safety and Disaster Prevention
cellent improvement on the polymerization process of the geopolymer Engineering Technology Research Center of Chinese Ministry of Water
mortars because of the large specific surface area and amorphous Resources (Grant no. 2018006), National Natural Science Foundation of
characteristics. Khater and Gawaad [21] investigated the influence of China (Grant No. 51678534), Foundation Supported by State Key
MWCNT on microstructure of the slag geopolymer mortars and found Laboratory of High Performance Civil Engineering Materials (No.
that the dense and compact structure in the mortar composite was 2016CEM010), Foundation Sponsored by Program for Science &
formed due to the addition of MWCNT with the dosage of 0.1%. With Technology Innovation Talents in Universities of Henan Province
the increment of MWCNT dosage, a large amount of agglomerates was (Grant No. 16HASTIT012).
generated, which reflected that the porosity was increased in the geo-
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