Construction and Building Materials 180 (2018) 298–307

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Construction and Building Materials

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Mechanical and microstructural properties of fly ash based geopolymer

concrete incorporating alccofine at ambient curing
Parveen a,⇑, Dhirendra Singhal a, M. Talha Junaid b, Bharat Bhushan Jindal c, Ankur Mehta d
a
Civil Engineering Department, DCRUST Murthal, 131039 Haryana, India
b
Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
c
Civil Engineering Department, M.M. University Sadopur, Ambala, India
d
Civil Engineering Department, Amity University, Noida, India

h i g h l i g h t s

 GPC is widely used in construction industry when heat curing is adopted.

 Fly ash alone is not able to polymerize the GPC at ambient curing.
 Alccofine as an additional material has been proposed.
 The microstructure and properties of the newly material has been studied.
 Conventional concrete can be replaced by GPC even at ambient curing.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, the findings of the properties of fly ash based geopolymer concrete incorporating alccofine
Received 5 July 2017 at ambient temperature, using 100% raw waste material as a binder have been reported. The fresh and
Received in revised form 11 April 2018 hardened properties of alccofine activated geopolymer concrete like workability, water absorption, com-
Accepted 31 May 2018
pressive, splitting tensile and flexural strengths have been studied as per Indian Standards. The prepared
samples were investigated through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscope (SEM) for
the determination of their phase, composition and microstructural properties. The results show that
Keywords:
geopolymer concrete prepared with alccofine at ambient temperature not only improves the properties
Alccofine
Geopolymer concrete
but also encourages to replace the conventional concrete. Furthermore, geopolymer concrete specimens
Workability prepared with alccofine emerge to ensure a densification process. The results of this study revealed that
Compressive strength alccofine have a significant effect on the polymerization of the geopolymer concrete which in turn
Split tensile strength improves the strength and microstructural features. Also, increased molarity and fly ash content,
Flexural strength improved the strength of all tested specimen.
Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction releases one-tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) for everytonne produc-

With the recent rapid increase in population the need for infras-
tructure development increased exponentially. This increased
demand for new infrastructure is feeding the global demand for
building materials like ordinary Portland cement (OPC), which is
the main binding constituent for producing concrete. Currently,
the global demand of the OPC is around 4 billion tons [1,2], which
is second most required material after water and it is expected that
this figure will increase by 8–10% in the coming years [3]. The pro-
duction of cement is a highly energy intensive process which
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: separveenjangra@dcrustm.org (Parveen).
tion of cement [4–8]. It is estimated that by the year 2020, the CO2
emission will rise by 50% from the current levels [9–12]. These
findings have put increased pressure on the concrete construction
industry. Furthermore, industrial wastes require large areas of
useful land for disposal which in turn has a huge impact on the
environment and land usage. To overcome these challenges,
researchers have recently worked on the development of substi-
tute binder materials. One such material that has come to the fore-
front is by the alkali activation of silica and alumina rich
compounds commonly known as Geopolymer Concrete (GPC) or
Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC) [13]. The use of GPC/EFC results in
low cost, CO2 reduction, and environmentally friendly materials
[14,15] by effectively utilizing industrial wastes such as fly ash,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.05.286
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Parveen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 180 (2018) 298–307
slag, rice husk ash etc. [16,17]. It is also found that GPC cured at
elevated temperatures can out-perform conventional concrete in
terms of strength and durability [18–23].
Wallah et al. reported that heat cured geopolymer concrete
have better strength and resistance [24]. Okoye et al. utilized silica
fume in various percentage and found that heat curing is best sui-
ted for geopolymer concrete [25]. Latif et al. partially replaced the
fly ash and silica fume with Portland cement in different percent-
age in order to avoid the external heat curing to geopolymer con-
crete. The new geopolymer concrete resulted into a better strength
at ambient temperature, however such a hybrid system does not
utilize 100% waste as raw material [26]. Several published works
are available highlighting the strength properties of geopolymer
concrete produced using low calcium fly ash when cured at ele-
vated heat for short periods [24,27–31]. However, the results are
not encouraging at ambient temperature because polymerization
occurs in the presence of heat which further leads to the formation
of calcium aluminate silicate hydrate (CASH) and sodium alumi-
nate silicate hydrate (NASH) compounds in the system. Literature
also revealed that heat curing restricts the use of GPC to precast
structural members only. So, there is a need to investigate the via-
bility of geopolymer concrete cured at ambient temperature by
examining its properties. Researchers have also tried the use of slag
for obtaining ambient cured GPC with encouraging results.
In this study, low calcium fly ash based geopolymer concrete at
ambient curing has been developed which is suitable for the con-
struction industry. A blend of alccofine and fly ash was activated
by alkaline solution to produced ambient cured concrete. The prop-
erties of the new binder are studied in terms of workability, com-
pressive, splitting tensile and flexural strengths. Also, the behavior
of GPC stress-strain in compression along with water absorption
properties are studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning elec-
tron microscopy (SEM) was also performed to study the structure
of the alccofine and fly ash based geopolymer concrete with differ-
ent NaOH concentration, at ambient temperature. The focus of the
current work is to develop and characterize the properties of ambi-
ent cured alccofine and fly ash based geopolymer concrete.
2. Experimental approach
2.1. Materials for geopolymer concrete mixture
2.1.1. Fly ash
In this study, local available low calcium class-F fly ash with specific gravity
1.95 was procured from Ultratech Ready Mix Concrete plant. The chemical compo-
sition of fly ash as determined by X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis with minimum
requirements as per IS 3812: 2003 [32] is given in Table 1. SEM analysis of fly ash is
shown in Fig. 1. Further, the Fig. 2(a) shows the XRD analysis of fly ash and alc-
cofine. Fly ash XRD clearly shows the presence of crystalline phase which is indi-
cated by sharp peaks of quartz, mullite, and mellite.
2.1.2. Alccofine
Alccofine 1203 (AF) is a microfine material which is based on low calcium sili-
cate slag. Alccofine controls high reactivity because of controlled granulation and it
also improves workability by reducing the water demand. Due to its unique chem-
istry and ultrafine particle size, GPC strength improved [33–36]. Alccofine 1203
produces high-performance concrete either as a cement replacement or as an addi-
tive, to improve concrete properties in both fresh and hardened states. Chemical
compositions and physical properties of alccofine 1203 used are given in Table 2.
XRD was performed on alccofine, which normally consists of calcite and shown in
Fig. 2(b).
Table 1
Chemical composition and physical properties of processed fly ash.
Sample SiO2 [%] Al2O3 [%] Fe2O3 [%]
Fly ash 62.55 29.02 4.22
Requirement as per IS:3812-2003 70% min. by mass
299
Fig. 1. SEM image of fly ash particles.
2.1.3. Aggregates
For the preparation of all the test specimens, good quality and well-graded
aggregates in surface dry condition were used. Natural available fine sand and
coarse aggregates with maximum size 14, 10 and 7 mm are used. Properties of
the aggregates are given in Table 3 and grading curves are shown in Fig. 3. Both
coarse and fine aggregates conform to IS 383-1970 [37] while fine aggregate used
is crushed sand which is graded conforming to IS: 2386 (Part I)-1963 [38].
2.1.4. Alkaline activators
Sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate were used in this study as an alkaline
activator which play a vital role in the geopolymerization process. Sodium hydrox-
ide solutions of required molarity were prepared from pellets with 98% purity and
sodium silicate solution (Na2SiO3) with SiO2/Na2O between 1.90 and 2.01 were pro-
cured commercially. The specification of the sodium silicate is as shown in Table 4.
2.1.5. Superplasticizer
Sodium silicate (SS) and sodium hydroxide (SH) solutions are more viscous than
water, hence their use makes the GPC more cohesive and sticky than conventional
concrete [39]. So, in order to improve the workability of the fresh geopolymer mix, a
Naphthalene Sulphonate based water reducing superplasticizer confirming to IS
9103:1999 [40] is used.
2.2. Manufacture of geopolymer concrete
The mixture proportions of nine GPC with and without alccofine are studied.
The mixes were prepared, based on the previous studies on the GPC [41–45]. Trial
mixes prepared with more than 10% alccofine showed improved compressive
strength but will result into uneconomical mix. Based on the trial results with dif-
ferent percentage of alccofine, it was decided to prepare all the nine mixes tabu-
lated in Table 5, with 10% alccofine, while superplasticizer amount was kept at
2% of the fly ash content. The GPC mixtures are designed by their variable con-
stituents in the mixture and are given in Table 5.
2.3. Preparation, casting, and curing of GPC specimens
Before the mixing of concrete, aggregates were prepared to the saturated sur-
face dry condition. Sodium hydroxide solution was prepared 24 h prior to mixing
and mixed with sodium silicate solution at a required ratio about 1 h before actual
mixing of the GPC. Fly ash, aggregates and alccofine were first dry mixed in the pan
mixture, followed by addition of the activator solutions to the dry materials and the
mixing continued for about 5 min to produced alccofine activated fresh GPC. Super-
plasticizer and any additional water were added during the mixing process. All the
specimens were compacted on a vibrating table for 2–3 min. 150 mm cubes were
prepared for compressive and split tensile strength testing. The samples were then
cured at the ambient condition at 27 °C. Indian Standard methods were used for
sampling and testing of fresh and hardened GPC [46–48]. The procedure for prepar-
ing the GPC samples is outlined in the form of the flow chart as stated in Fig. 4.
SO3 [%] CaO [%] Na2O [%] LOI [%] Specific surface
area [m2/kg]
0.22 1.1 0.20 0.52 321.7
3% max by mass – 1.5% max by mass 5 320
300 Parveen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 180 (2018) 298–307

(a) Fly Ash (b) Alccofine 1203

Fig. 2. XRD spectrum of fly ash and alccofine 1203.

Table 2 Table 4
Chemical composition & physical properties of alccofine 1203. Sodium silicate specifications.

Chemical composition Physical properties Item Specification

Constituents Composition Physical property Results Color Color-less
[%] Density, gm/cm3 1.49
Total solids content, by mass% 48
SiO2 35.30 Particle size distribution [micro
metre]
MgO 6.20 d10 1.8
Al2O3 21.40 d50 4.4
3. Results and discussion
d90 8.9
Fe2O3 1.20 Bulk Density [kg/m3] 680
SO3 0.13 Specific Gravity 2.70 3.1. Workability
CaO 32.20 Specific surface area [m2/kg] 1200
The workability of fresh GPC was determined immediately after
mixing of concrete using the slump cone test. The size of the slump
cone apparatus was 100  200  300 mm and testing was done as
Table 3 per IS 1199: 1959 [46]. The slump values of GPC with alccofine
Aggregate properties. obtained at different fly ash content and molarity are represented
Property Fine Aggregates Coarse Aggregates
in the Fig. 5.
A measurable slump of 60 mm was noticed in GPC with the fly
Specific Gravity 2.60 2.66
Fineness Modulus 2.92 7.10
ash of 350 kg/m3 (AGPC1). Further, the slump value improved from
Water Absorption 1.50% 0.80% 60 mm to 110 mm and 160 mm on increasing fly ash content from
350 to 375 (AGPC2) and 400 (AGPC3) kg/m3, respectively, as indi-
cated in Fig. 5. In view of the results, it was observed that slump

Cum % finer
14mm
IS min range
10mm IS max range
Cumulative % passing

Cumulative % finer

7mm

1 10 100 0.1 1 10
Sieve size (mm) Log sieve opening (mm)
(a) Coarse aggregate (b) Fine aggregate
Fig. 3. Grading curve of (a) Coarse aggregate (b) Fine aggregate.
 Parveen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 180 (2018) 298–307 301

Table 5
Mix proportions used in this study.

Mixture Fine aggregate Coarse aggregate Fly ash Molarity: Total alkaline NaOH Na2SiO3 Extra water Super –plasticizer
[Kg/m3] [Kg/m3] [Kg/m3] NaOH[M] solution [Kg/m3] [Kg/m3] [Kg/m3] [Kg/m3] [Kg/m3]
AGPC1 533 1243 350 8 157.5 45.00 112.5 26 7.0
AGPC2 521 1215 375 8 168.7 48.21 120.5 28 7.5
AGPC3 508 1186 400 8 180.0 51.42 128.5 28 8.0
AGPC4 531 1239 350 12 157.5 45.00 112.5 30 7.0
AGPC5 519 1210 375 12 168.7 48.21 120.5 30 7.5
AGPC6 506 1181 400 12 180.0 51.42 128.5 32 8.0
AGPC7 530 1236 350 16 157.5 45.00 112.5 32 7.0
AGPC8 517 1207 375 16 168.7 48.21 120.5 34 7.5
AGPC9 505 1178 400 16 180.0 51.42 128.5 36 8.0

*AGPC-Ambient cured GPC.

Fig. 4. Flow chart of the process for alccofine based GPC.

3.2. Compressive strength

It is the most commonly studied mechanical property of the

Fig. 5. Slump of GPC with different fly ash content.
values improved by 15% when molarity is changed from 16 M to 8
M. In other words, workability decreases with the increase in the
concentration of the alkaline solution. The reason for lower values
could be high stickiness due to increased molarity. Further, the
decrease in the slump values with the increase in NaOH molarity
may be due to hardening process due to calcium content present
in the alccofine. The increase in calcium content was not only
due to the presence of alccofine but also due to its binder sources
like fly ash which formed additional nucleation sites which
increased the rate of solidification and hence increased its harden-
ing [49–51]. It was observed that the fly ash and alccofine particles
combined with the lubricating effect of the alkaline solution which
in terms give flowability to the fresh GPC. The slump values
obtained for all the GPC mixes prepared with 10% alccofine and
2% plasticizer indicates less stickiness and good workability.
concrete which is correlated with other properties too. The bearing
surface of the GPC samples of size 150  150  150 mm is wiped
clean and samples are placed in between the steel plates and pack-
ing is not used. The load on the samples is applied at a rate of 140
kg/sq cm/min. The testing is done on a set of four identical samples
for each case [47] at the age of 3, 7 and 28 days. The mean values
obtained for the compressive strength at different fly ash contents
are represented in Fig. 6.
It can be seen from Fig. 6 that with increase in molarity and fly
ash content, there was increase in compressive strength of all the
mixes. For example, at 28 days, the compressive strength of the
mixes AGPC1, AGPC2 and AGPC3 were 22, 25 and 27 MPa, respec-
tively. However, the increase in strength was not high in terms of
percentage. Also, the strength of the mixes AGPC3, AGPC6, and
AGPC9 were 27, 38 and 41 MPa, respectively, after 28 days. It is
clear that concentration of NaOH effects the strength of the GPC
and the change in the strength recorded were 40% and 8% when
molarity changes from 8 M to 12 M and 12 M to 16 M, respectively.
This indicates that 12 M may be an optimal molarity, in order to
make the GPC effective in terms of economy. Further, GPC with alc-
cofine has a similar trend of increasing strength with age just like
conventional concrete. The effect of alccofine at 400 kgs fly ash and
16 M sodium hydroxide solution is more pronounced (AGPC9) as
the total specific surface area increased, resulting in a strength of
41 MPa.
Increased fly ash content results into increased quantity of bin-
der material as well as the development of denser concrete
improving the compressive strength parameter. This increase in
compressive strength at ambient temperature may be due to the
presence of calcium in alccofine and fly ash which results into
302 Parveen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 180 (2018) 298–307
AF-GPC-28D-27-A (Alccofine-Geopolymer concrete-Days-
Fig. 6. Compressive strength with varying fly ash content and molarity at 27 °C curing temperature.
formation of CSH bond in the system apart from the NASH and
CASH. Fly ash is the main source of the silica and alumina, which
increases when the amount of fly ash is increased in the system
and it influences the polymerization reaction and hence increases
the NASH and CASH which results in higher strength. Although,
due to the addition of alccofine, CSH may also be formed and
requires water curing to enhance the final age strength of the
mix. Hence water curing may increase the alccofine containing
geopolymer specimen’s strength In previous studies, the strength
of the GPC at ambient temperature was improved by using slag
[52–54], therefore, alccofine could be another alternative to pro-
duce the GPC at ambient temperature.
3.3. Split tensile strength
It is an important mechanical property of the concrete that is
used in many design aspects of concrete structures such as those
related to initiation and propagation of cracks, shear, and anchor-
age of reinforcing steel in concrete [39]. 150  150  150 mm size
cubes are used to find out the split tensile strength of the GPC and a
minimum bearing area of 12  150 mm is provided so that load
can be applied over the entire length. The load is applied at a nom-
inal rate within the range 1.2 N/(mm2/min) to 2.4 N/(mm2/min)
and without any shock. Splitting tensile strength test confirming
to IS 5816-1999 [48] is conducted at the age of 3, 7 and 28 days
with varying fly ash as well as NaOH molarity. Influence of varia-
tion of fly ash content using different molarity at ambient cured
GPC specimens on splitting tensile strength at the age of 3 days,
7 days and 28 days is shown in Fig. 7.
Temperature-Curing type)
Sodium silicate / Sodium hydroxide = 2.5
Rest period = 24 Hours
Alkaline activator liquid / Fly ash = 0.45
Fig. 7 (AF-GPC-28D-27-A) shows a nominal increase in split-
ting tensile strength of 13% and 37% on increasing fly ash content
from 350 kg/m3 to 375 kg/m3 and 350 kg/m3 to 400 kg/m3,
respectively, when 12 M NaOH solution is used along with alc-
cofine. A significant increment was further observed when GPC
with 8 M, 12 M, and 16 M were compared. For example, for spec-
imens AGPC3, AGPC6 and AGPC9 splitting tensile strength were
2.96, 3.59 and 3.75 MPa, respectively. Further, for all the speci-
mens, increase in splitting tensile strength coincided well with
the compressive strength development. Although previous studies
show that polymerization in the geopolymer concrete initiates at
a higher temperature, here calcium present in the matrix reacts
with the alkaline solution and develop heat in the matrix which
could have been the reason of the increased strength in the case
of alccofine based geopolymer concrete. Therefore, it is concluded
from the results that, split tensile strength increases significantly
with increase in fly ash content and molarity of the solution.
More significantly, split tensile strength increases with the
increase in compressive strength of GPC and with the addition
of the alccofine.
3.4. Flexural strength
The flexural tensile strength of the geopolymer specimens was
studied and the influence of NaOH molarity, age and quantity of
binder material with the inclusion of alccofine on the flexural
strength was carried out at 3, 7 and 28 days. The specimens were
cured at 27 °C and the average of five specimens is recorded as
shown in Fig. 8.
 Parveen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 180 (2018) 298–307
AF-GPC-28D-27-A (Alccofine-Geopolymer concrete-Days-
Fig. 7. Split tensile strength with varying fly ash content and molarity at 27 °C curing temperature.
Flexural strength of the geopolymer specimens follows similar
trends as compressive and splitting tensile strength. At 28 days,
the flexural strength of mix AGPC3, AGPC6 and AGPC9 were 3.43,
4.07, and 4.23, respectively. Although the strength increment was
on the higher side, still the best results were obtained by the spec-
imens with 400 kg/m3 fly ash, 16 M after 28 days. The percentage
increase of strength was found to be 3% and 6% when fly ash con-
tent increased from 350 kg/m3 to 375 kg/m3 and 400 kg/m3. Simi-
larly, the 3 and 7 days strength of the geopolymer specimens were
20–23% and 65–70% of its 28 days strength for all the specimens in
the testing program. Previous work [33,55,56] has indicated that
for blended mix of fly ash and alccofine after polymerization,
CSH may be formed within the network. However, the combined
network at 3 and 7 days was expected to have less dense
microstructure compare to 28 days, and therefore higher strength
was achieved.
3.5. Stress-strain behavior
Determining the stress stain behavior for construction material
is of extreme importance in order to develop constitutive models.
To this end the stress strain response of the samples was evaluated.
Tests were done on the concrete specimens prepared with different
molarity and at ambient temperature, and are shown in Fig. 9.
The test was conducted under controlled conditions, load and
strain readings were recorded until the time of failure. The
stress-strain behavior of the geopolymer specimens with different
NaOH molarity and fly ash content at ambient temperature is
shown in the above Fig. 9. It can be seen from the above figure that
303
Temperature-Curing type)
Sodium silicate / Sodium hydroxide = 2.5
Rest period = 24 Hours
Alkaline activator liquid / Fly ash = 0.45
the stress-strain behavior is almost similar to conventional con-
crete. Also, the rate of strain increase at the initial stage was slower
and the trend continued up to 80% of the maximum stress. Further,
the rate of increase in deformation of geopolymer concrete was
comparatively faster than conventional concrete and this may be
due to a large number of micro-cracks developed near peak stress
as observed by other researchers [57–59]. Further, all geopolymer
concrete specimen exhibited a brittle failure. The maximum strain
(eo) was observed to be in the range of 1.85–2.25  10 3 mm/mm,
at maximum stress in all the cases as shown. The peak point posi-
tion in the stress-strain curves was influenced by compressive
strength while the rate of straining and loading were kept con-
stant. The obtained stress-strain curves were compared to the ana-
lytical model proposed by Junaid et al. [60] and the results are
given in Fig. 10. As can be seen from the figure, the model proposed
by Junaid et al. [60] was in good agreement with the experimental
data of the selected specimen. It can therefore be concluded that
the model may be used to predict the stress-strain behavior of
GPC samples under compression loading.
3.6. Water absorption
Tests were also conducted to study the effect of NaOH concen-
tration and fly ash content on the water absorption property of the
GPC. Further testing was done on all the mixes tabulated in Table 5.
The results of the water absorption percentage for GPC mixes is
depicted in the Fig. 11.
The effect of the fly ash content and molarity of the sodium
hydroxide solution on 28 days water absorption of the GPC with
304 Parveen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 180 (2018) 298–307

AF-GPC-28D-27-A (Alccofine-Geopolymer concrete-Days-

Temperature-Curing type)

Sodium silicate / Sodium hydroxide = 2.5

Rest period = 24 Hours

Alkaline activator liquid / Fly ash = 0.45

Fig. 8. Flexural strength with varying fly ash content and molarity at 27 °C curing temperature.

AF-GPC-28D-27-A (Alccofine-Geopolymer concrete-Days-

Temperature-Curing type)

Sodium silicate / Sodium hydroxide = 2.5

Rest period = 24 Hours

Alkaline activator liquid / Fly ash = 0.45

Fig. 9. Stress-strain curves of GPC specimens after 28 days.

 Parveen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 180 (2018) 298–307
Fig. 10. Comparison of stress-strain test data with analytical model.
Fig. 11. Water absorption with varying fly ash content and molarity at 27 °C curing
temperature.
10% alccofine is presented. The increase in fly ash content and
molarity also affects the water absorption significantly by 9–11%
and 5–6%, respectively. The reduction of water absorption in GPC
with 10% alccofine may be due to the combined matrix of alccofine
and fly ash. The fineness of alccofine and fly ash also play impor-
tant role in increasing the strength which further reduced water
absorption. Also, reduction in water absorption was noticed with
the increasing molarity, it may be due to better geopolymerization
as well as hydration process due to the reaction of calcium with
alkaline activators.
3.7. Characterisation and microstructure of the GPC
3.7.1. X-ray diffraction (XRD)
The XRD analysis of the fly ash based geopolymer with the
inclusion of alccofine were conducted on the specimens AGPC3,
AGPC6 and AGPC9, as shown in Fig. 12.
XRD of the GPC specimens with different molarity was obtained
on a Bruker D8 Advance X-ray diffraction instrument with Cu-Ka
monochromatic at 40 kV voltage. Fig. 12 shows the XRD pattern
(2h = 15°–70°) for ambient cured, 28 days, pure GPC with 10% alc-
cofine, using different molarity of NaOH along with the details of
crystalline phases. Except sharp diffraction peaks, a non-
crystalline state was also observed. For easy representation of each
phase, single or multiple letters were assigned. For all the samples,
well-defined diffraction peaks of Quartz were observed at
2h = 21.72°, 26.1° and 41.5°, 47.2° corresponding to (1 0 0),
305
Fig. 12. XRD pattern of GPC specimen at different molarity after 28 days.
(1 0 1) and (1 1 0) planes, respectively (JCPDS no. 85-1327). In
addition, diffraction peaks at 2h = 61.2° and 70.3° corresponding
to (2 1 1) and (3 0 0) planes of tri-calcium aluminate. All the other
reflections correspond to the Mullites, Merwinites, Calcium sili-
cates and Aluminum Mellitus are also clearly observed in Fig. 12.
Amorphous compounds which easily dissolve than crystalline
compounds during the first phase of geopolymerization were also
observed and was difficult to characterize. The percentage of amor-
phous silicates was more in the case of GPC with 8 M NaOH. It
shows that at higher concentration of alkaline solution and alc-
cofine in the GPC indicates more crystallinity and it is clear in
the XRD patterns in Fig. 12. Previous studies on the fly ash based
geopolymer concrete show mullite, quartz, and nepheline, which
is associated with NASH, formed by polymerization reactions
[61]. However, the inclusion of alccofine in the GPC matrix forms
CSH in addition to other compounds and contributes to achieving
the higher strength at ambient temperature curing. Also, with
the increase in NaOH concentration high peaks of the quartz and
mullite were observed. As strength increases with the increase in
the percentage of alccofine, it can be assumed that at higher alc-
cofine percentage dense matrix will form and higher peaks of
quartz could be observed. The XRD results reveal that the prepared
sample present in a crystalline form which also clearly observed in
SEM image.
3.7.2. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
SEM analyses were conducted on prepared specimens AGPC3,
AGPC6, and AGPC9, in order to identify the reactants of fly ash
and to verify the internal microstructure. SEM microscopy of the
samples was measured using a Hitachi S-3000 N. The size of the
samples was approximately 12  10 mm. The working distance
and the voltage for this analysis were approximately 10 to 25
mm and 7 kV, respectively. However, the images were inspected
at 250 magnification. The SEM microscopy of the ambient cured
AGPC3, AGPC6, and AGPC9mix with alccofine, at 28 days, is shown
in Fig. 13a–c.
The aggregate cement matrix interface of the GPC samples with
alccofine does not possess any indication of cracking nor alkali-
silica reaction (ASR) [62]. It can be seen from the Fig. 13 that alc-
cofine enhanced the microstructure of the GPC and there are fewer
pores in the GPC containing alccofine. However, GPC prepared with
alccofine when activated with sodium silicate gel possess heat of
hydration, which leads to denser microstructure, minor cracking,
and high compressive strength. The heat is developed in the mix
due to the presence of CaO in the alccofine. Fig. 13(b) and (c) shows
306 Parveen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 180 (2018) 298–307

the particles, hence they did not act as a filler material and the dar-
ker spherical zones indicate Ca-aluminosilicate particles. The pres-
ence of the voids and cracks were very less in the GPC mix with 16
M, so it can be assumed that geopolymer matrix with 16 M NaOH,
will be less permeable than GPC with 8 M and 12 M. Further, it
gives an idea that if GPC with alccofine, cured at heat temperature
will be denser but with a higher number of cracks as observed in
ambient cured GPC matrix. Comparable to mix AGPC3 and AGPC6,
mix AGPC9 specimens were more dense and continuous as can be
seen from the microscope, which lead to higher strength due to a
higher degree of polymerization with CSH, NASH, and CASH in
the mix.

4. Conclusions

From the present alccofine based GPC comprehensive study fol-

lowing conclusions can be derived upon

1. The mechanical and microstructural properties of fly ash based

GPC incorporating alccofine found to be improved.
2. The 28 days, the strength of the GPC mix was obtained at ambi-
ent temperature and it was observed that the improvement in
the strength was due to hydration in addition to
polymerization.
3. Maximum compressive, splitting and flexural strength at ambi-
ent temperature was obtained, with 16 M NaOH concentration
and at 400 kg/m3 fly ash content.
4. The stress-strain model proposed by Junaid et al give good pre-
diction of the compressive behavior of GPC cured at ambient
temperatures.
5. The analysis of SEM helps to verify the increased compactness
of the structure of the alccofine based GPC through the denser
matrix and fewer microcracks, holes, firm achieved higher
strength.
6. Stress-strain behavior of the newer concrete shows similar
behavior, as obtained for conventional concrete by previous
researchers.
7. Increased molarity of sodium hydroxide enhances the mechan-
ical strength but reduce the workability of GPC.

5. Conflict of interest

There are no known conflicts of interest.

6. Acknowledgements

The authors are highly thankful to Ministry of forest, environ-

ment and climate change for the financial support provided in
the development of geopolymer concrete [grant number 19-
38/2014-RE; 2016]. The authors are further highly thankful for
the administrative support provided by DCR University of Science
and Technology, Murthal, Sonepat.

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Fig. 13. SEM picture of GPC specimens (a) 8 M (b) 12 M and (c) 16 M, prepared at
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polymerized due to less heat development in the matrix, so this
could be the reason of less homogeneity. Unhydrated aluminates
increase the strength of the matrix with age through bonding
strength provided by complex reaction between the surface of
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