Preparation of cleaner one-part geopolymer by investigating

different types of commercial sodium metasilicate in China

1. the weighted solid materials including aluminosilicate materials and activators were dry-
mixed for about 2 min.
2. And then, the predetermined amount of water was added into the dry mixture and
continuously mixed for at least 3 min.
3. Finally, the fresh pastes were transferred into PVC moulds (40 mm × 40 mm × 160 mm)
and homogeneous mixtures could be obtained by some forms of vibration.
4. After casting, the moulds were placed in standard curing room with a stable temperature
of 20 ± 2 °C and relative humidity of 95 ± 3%.
5. The specimens were demoulded after 1 day of curing, and the demoulded specimens were
transferred into the standard curing room until the measuring ages.
6. Strength measurement; At 3, 7, 28 and 60 days of curing, specimens were taken out from
the standard curing room for the compressive strength measurements. The tests were
performed in accordance to ASTM C348. The final strength results are the mean values
of at least three reproducible specimens.

Porosity measurement
7. Some crushed samples were collected after strength measurements at 28 days
and isopropanol was used to terminate the geopolymerization. The sizes of selected
samples were about 2–4 mm. Before porosity tests, the samples should be oven-dried at a
temperature lower than 60 °C. And the smallest pore size measured is about 5.5 nm.
During the measurements, the intrusive volume of Hg should be normalized according to
the weight of samples. Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) was employed to
characterize the porosities of geopolymer pastes

Mixing proportion
Precursor (g %) alkaline activator (g%) water to binder
90 % of mass 10 % of mass 0.35
Properties and characterization of green one-part
geopolymer activated by composite activators

1. The first step was the dry mixing of the powder materials consisting of starting materials
and activators, and this process lasted about 2 min
2. The second step was adding the projected volume of water into the dry mixture and the
uninterruptedly wet mixing lasted over 3 min
3. After the mixing processes, the fresh mixture was poured into the cuboid PVC moulds
with a size of 40 mm × 40 mm × 160 mm.
4. A few seconds of vibration were employed for ensuring the mixture homogeneousness
5. Subsequently, the moulds were transferred into the curing room under 20 ± 2 °C and
95 ± 3 RH%
6. The hardened one-part geopolymer samples were demoulded after 24 h of curing, and the
samples were continued to be cured until the predetermined measurement ages
7. Fresh properties of geopolymer are investigated by measuring the initial fluidity and
final setting time. A glass pane and a fluidity cone with the upper and bottom diameters
of 36 mm and 60 mm were employed to measure the fluidity. The fresh mixtures were
immediately poured into the cones and the fluidity is the mean value of at least three
testing results after the free flowing. On the basis of BS EN 196–3:2005, a Vicat
instrument is used to examine the final setting time.

Mixing proportion
Precursor (g %) alkaline activator (g%) water to binder
90 % of mass 10 % of mass 0.35

powder mix (activator and precursor powder) was blended using a mechanical mixer
for 3 min to obtain a homogenized dry powder using the above proportion in grams.