Study on Geopolymer Concrete Block

The application of geopolymer technology substantially reduces the CO2 emissions by the cement industries and utilizes the waste materials such as fly ash. In this project a study has been carried out on manufacturing of geopolymer binder based compressed blocks using fly ash, GGBS and quarry dust as fine aggregate. A mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate were used to prepare the blocks which were cured at ambient temperature. This project also covers the material and the mixture proportions, the manufacturing process, the fresh and hardened state characteristics, the influence of various parameters on the fresh and hardened state of geopolymer concrete(GPC), the utilization of the material in structural members, and the long-term behaviour. The huge demand from housing industry due to population explosion has entailed the need for sustainable building materials especially bricks. The most basic building material for construction of houses is the usual burnt clay brick. About 22 million tons of coals are consumed in the production of burnt bricks apart from 10 million tones of biomass. The alternatives to these bricks are compressed cement blocks which have gained popularity recently. The main drawback of cement blocks is consumption of cement which is deterrent to sustainability. It is important to find an alternate material which has less carbon footprint than cement. Researchers have tried to incorporate Fly ash, Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS), lime stone dust, rice husk ash, welding flux slag and other waste products into bricks so as to improve its sustainability.