Preliminary experimental investigation on one-part geopolymer mixes

Abstract

The geopolymerization of alumino-silicate materials is a complex chemical process evolving dissolution of raw materials, transportation or orientation and polycondensation of the reaction products. Publications on the field of geopolymeric binders, state that this new material is likely to have high potential to become an alternative to Portland cement. Classical two part geopolymers could be made more eco-efficient with a lower carbon dioxide footprint if the use of sodium silicate is avoided. Besides current geopolymeric mixes can suffer from efflorescence originated by the fact that alkaline and/or soluble silicates that are added during processing cannot be totally consumed during geopolymerisation. Therefore new geopolymer mixes are needed. This paper presents preliminary experimental results on a novel kind of mixes termed one-part geopolymers. Compressive strength results and efflorescences observations show that the new mixes already analyzed are promissing.