CONCRETING Geopolymer Concrete: A Substitute for Conventional Concrete B. Prabu, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, VSA Group of Institutions, Salem concrete is a composite material composed mainly of reinforcements are included in the mixture to achieve the desired physical properties of the finished material. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is the most common type of cement in general usage. Its a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar and plaster. Combining water with a cementitious material forms a cement paste by the process of hydration. The cement paste glues the aggregate together, fill voids within it, and makes it flow more freely. Fine and coarse aggregates make up the bulk of a concrete mixture. Sand, Natural gravel, and Crushed stone are used mainly for this purpose. Recycled aggregates (from. construction, demolition, and excavation waste) are increasingly used as partial replacements of natural aggregates. The presence of aggregate greatly increases the durability of concrete above that of cement, which is a brittle material in its pure state. Thus concrete is a true composite material Environment Pollution due to OPC The cement industry is responsible for about 6% of all CO, emissions, because the production of one ton of Portland cement emits approximately one ton of CO, into the atmosphere. The contribution of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) production worldwide to greenhouse gas emissions is estimated to be approximately 1.35 billion tons annually or approximately 7% of the total greenhouse gas emissions to the earth's atmosphere. Also, it has been reported that many concrete structures, especially those builtin corrosive environments, start to deteriorate after 20 to 30 years, even though they have been designed for more than 50 years of service life. Figuret: Cement Industry Replacement of OPC The use of Portland cement is stil avoidable until the foreseeable future; many efforts are being made in order to reduce the use of Portland cementin concrete. These efforts include the utilization of supplementary cementing materials such as fly ach, silica fume, granulated blast furnace slag, rice-husk ash and Metakaoline, and finding alternative binders to Portland 102 Cement. One of the efforts to produce more environment. friendly concrete is to partially replace the amount of OPC in concrete with by-product materials such as fly ash. Fly ash, Cone of the source materials for geopolymer binders, is available abundantly worldwide, and yet its use to date is limited. From the 1998 estimation, the global coal ash production was more than 390 million tonnes annually, but its use was less than 15%. In the future, fly ash production will increase, especially in countries such as China and India. From these two countries alone, itis estimated that the amount of the fly ash produced is 780 million tonnes annually. Accordingly, efforts to use this by-product. ‘material in concrete manufacture is important to make concrete more environment friendly, Geopolymer Concrete The term ‘geopolymer’ was first introduced by Davidovits in 1978 to describe a family of mineral binders with chemical composition similar to zeolites but with an amorphous microstructure, He also suggested the use of the term ‘poly (sialate)’ for the chemical designation of geopolymers based on slica~ aluminate. The geopolymer concrete technology was proposed by B.V.Rangan and he shows considerable promise for application in concrete industry as an alternative binder to the Portland cement, Geopolymer is used as the binder, instead of cement paste, to produce concrete. As in the Portland cement concrete, the aggregates occupy the largest volume, that is, approximately 75 to 80% by mass, in geopolymer concrete. The silicon and the aluminium in the fly ash are activated by a combination of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solutions to form the geopolymer paste that binds the aggregates and other unreacted materials, ‘The manufacture of geopolymer concrete is carried out using the usual concrete technology methods. 5 arseCONCRETING Merits of Geopolymer Concrete High Strength: showed higher compressive strength than that of ordinary Concrete. It also has rapid strength gain and cures very quickly, ‘making it an excellent option for quick builds. Geopolymer concrete has high tensile strength has a high compressive strength that Very Low Creep and Shrinkage: shrinkage can cause severe ‘and even dangerous cracks in the concrete from the drying and heating of the concrete or even the evaporation of water from the concrete. Geopolymer concrete does not hydrate; its not as permeable and will not experience significant shrinkage. The creep of geopolymer concrete is very low. When speaking of creep in concrete terms it means the tendency of the concrete to become permanently deformed due to the constant forces being applied against it Resistance to Heat and Cold: It has the ability to stay stable leven at temperatures of more than 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. Excessive heat can reduce the stability of concrete causing it to spall or have layers break off. Geopolymer concrete does not experience spaling unless it reaches over 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. As for cold temperatures, itis resistant to freezing, The pores are very small but water can still enter cured concrete. When temperatures dip to below freezing that water freezes and then expands; this will cause cracks to form. Geopolymer concrete will not freeze, Chemical Resistance: it has a very strong chemical resistance. ‘Acids, toxic waste and salt water will not have an effect on ‘geopolymer concrete, Corrosion isnot likely to occur with this concrete as itis with traditional Portland concrete, Demerits of Geopolymer Concrete Difficult to Create: geopolymer concrete requires special handling needs and is extremely difficult to create. Itrequires the use of chemicals, such as sodium hydroxide, that can be harmful to humans. Pre-Mix Only: geopolymer concrete's sold only as a pre-cast or pre-mix material due to the dangers associated with creating it Geopolymerization Process is Sensitive: this field of study has been proven inconclusive and extremely volatile. Uniformity is lacking, While the idea of geopolymer concrete seems ideal and could be the best thing to come along since Portland concrete, 104 there are stil too many unstable issues that can cause major, hiccups in the mixing and application process of the concrete. Applications of Geopolymer Concrete.» ~ According to Davidovits (19886), geopolymeric materials have a wide range of applications in the field of industries such asin the automobile and aerospace, non-ferrous foundries and metallurgy, civil engineering and plastic industries ~ Inthe short term, there is potential for geopolymer applications for bridges, such as precast structural elements and decks as wellas structural retrofits using geopolymer- fibre composites. = To date, none of these potential applications has advanced beyond the development stage, but the durability attributes cof geopolymers make them attractive for use in high-cost, severe-environment applications such as bridges. Other potential near-term applications are precast pavers and slabs for paving = One of the potential fields of application of geopolymeric materials isin toxic waste management because geopolymers behave similar to zeoltic materials that have been known for their abilty to absorb the toxic chemical wastes (Davidovits, 19880). ~The type of application of geopelymeric materials is determined by the chemical structure in terms ofthe atomic ratio SEAL in the polysalate. Davidovits (1999) classified the type of application according to the SiAl ratio as presented in Table = Another application of geopolymeris in the strengthening of concrete structural elements. Balaguruet et. a. (1997) reported the results of the investigation on using geopolymers, instead of organic polymers, for Fastening carbon fabrics to surfaces of reinforced concrete beams. It was found that geopolymer provided excellent adhesion to both concrete surface and inthe inter-laminar of fabrics. = In Australia, the geopolymer technology has been used to develop sewer pipeline products, railway sleepers, building products including fire and chemically resistant wall panels, 1 = Bricks = Ceramics = Fire protection 2 = LowCO, cements and concretes Radioactive and toxic waste encapsulation Fire protection fibre glass composite Foundry equipment Heat resistant composites, 200°C to 1000°C Tooling for aeronautics titanium process 23. - Sealants for industry, 200°C to 600°C 20-35. ~ Fire resistant and heat resistant fibre composites = Tooling for aeronautics SPF aluminium CE&CR AUGUST 2015CONCRETING ‘masonry units, protective coatings and repairs materials, shoterete and high performance fibre reinforced laminates, (Gourley, 2003; Gourley & Johnson, 2005), Conclusions ~ It ean be concluded that GPCCs are good materials of constructions from bath strength and durabiity considerations = Geopolymer concrete shows significant potential tobe 2 material fr the future, because isnot only environment friendly but aso possesses excellent mechanical properties. ~ Recommendations on use of geopolymer concrete technology in practical application such as precast concrete products and waste encapsulation need to be developed in Indian context. - Because of lower internal energy (almost 20% to 30 % less) and lower CO, emission contents of ingredients of geopolymer based composites compared to those of conventional Portland cement concretes, the new composites can be considered tobe more eco-friendly and hence their ult in practical applications needs tobe developed and encouraged. References 1. Davidovits, J. (1988b). Geopolymer Chemistry and Properties. Paper presented at the Geopolymer ‘88;First European Conference on Soft Mineralurgy, Compiegne, France. 2. Davidovits, J. (1999, 30 June ~ 2 July 1999). Chemistry of Geopolymeric Systems, Terminology. Paper presented at the Geopolymere ‘99 International Conference, Saint-Quentin,, France, 3. Gourley J. T., (2003). Geopolymer; Oppurtunity for Environment. Friendly Construction Matreials. Paper presented at Materaials, 2003 Conference: Adaptive Materials for a Modern Sydney. 4. Gourley J.T. and Johnson G. B., (2005), Developments, in Geopolymer Precast Concrete. Paper presented at the International Workshop on Geopolymer Concrete. Perth, Australia, 5. Balaguru, P., Kurtz, S., & Rudolph, J. (1997). Geopolymer for Repair and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete Beams. The Geopolymer Institute. Retrieved 3 April, 2002, from the World Wide Web: www.geopolymer.org