Civil Engineering Dimension, Vol. 6, No.

2, 88–93, September 2004

ISSN 1410-9530

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF

FLY ASH-BASED GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE

Djwantoro Hardjito, Steenie E. Wallah, Dody M.J. Sumajouw, and B.V. Rangan
Faculty of Engineering and Computing, Curtin University of Technology
GPO Box U 1987, Perth 6845, Australia
e-mail: hardjitd@vesta.curtin.edu.au

ABSTRACT
This paper describes the effects of several factors on the properties of fly ash based geopolymer
concrete, especially the compressive strength. The test variables included were the age of concrete,
curing time, curing temperature, quantity of superplasticizer, the rest period prior to curing, and the
water content of the mix.

The test results show that the compressive strength of geopolymer concrete does not vary with age,
and curing the concrete specimens at higher temperature and longer curing period will result in
higher compressive strength. Furthermore, the commercially available Naphthalene-based
superplasticizer improves the workability of fresh geopolymer concrete. The start of curing of
geopolymer concrete at elevated temperatures can be delayed at least up to 60 minutes without
significant effect on the compressive strength. The test data also show that the water content in the
concrete mix plays an important role.

Keywords: Compressive strength; Fly ash; Geopolymer concrete.

INTRODUCTION The development of geopolymer concrete is an

important step towards the production of
The global cement industry contributes around environmentally friendly concretes. Geopolymer
1.35 billion tons of the greenhouse gas emissions is an inorganic alumino-silicate compound,
annually, or about 7% of the total man-made synthesized from materials of geological origin
greenhouse gas emissions to the earth’s or from by-product materials such as fly ash,
atmosphere [1,2]. Therefore, one of the most rice husk ash, etc., that are rich in silicon and
challenging issues faced by the concrete aluminium [4]. The geopolymer concrete is
industries in the future is the impact of cement produced by totally replacing the Ordinary
production on the environment. Portland Cement (OPC). Therefore, the use of
geopolymer technology not only substantially
McCaffrey [2] suggested three alternatives to reduces the CO2 emissions by the cement
reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) industries, but also utilises the waste materials
emissions from the cement industries, i.e. to such as fly ash. It is to be noted that fly ash, one
decrease the amount of calcined material in of the possible sources for making geopolymer
cement, to decrease the amount of cement in binders, is available abundantly world wide, and
concrete, and to decrease the number of yet its usage to date is very limited [1,5,6].
buildings using cement. Likewise, Mehta [3] Consumption of fly ash in the manufacture of
also proposed two stages in the production of geopolymers is an important strategy in making
environmentally friendly concrete. A short-term concrete more environmentally friendly. For this
effort, also known as ‘industrial ecology’, is an reason, fly ash has been chosen as a base
attempt to use fewer natural resources, utilise material for this project in order to better utilise
less energy, and minimise the carbon dioxide this industrial waste.
emissions. The long-term view is to reduce the
impact of unwanted industrial by-products by As a relatively new material, the nature of fresh
lowering the rate of material consumption. state of geopolymer concrete and its effect on the
properties in the hardened state are yet to be
studied. The fresh geopolymer concrete has a
Note: Discussion is expected before November, 1st 2004. stiff consistency and high viscosity [7,8]. This
The proper discussion will be published in “Dimensi Teknik
Sipil” volume 7, number 1, March 2005. paper presents research data on the effect of

Civil Engineering Dimension

ISSN 1410-9530 print © 2007 Thomson GaleTM
http://puslit.petra.ac.id/journals/civil
 D. Hardjito, et al. / Factors Influencing The Compressive Strength / CED, Vol. 6, No. 2, 88–93, September 2004

several parameters on the compressive strength Table 1. Composition of fly ash as determined
of geopolymer concrete. by XRF (mass %)
SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO Na2O K2O TiO2 MgO P2O5 SO3 LOI*)
53.36 26.49 10.86 1.34 0.37 0.80 1.47 0.77 1.43 1.70 1.39
*) Loss on ignition
PREVIOUS RESEARCH
Analytical grade sodium hydroxide in flake form
The chemical composition of geopolymer is (NaOH with 98% purity), and sodium silicate
similar to zeolite, but amorphous in micro- solution (Na2O = 14.7%, SiO2 = 29.4% and water
structure [4]. The silicon and the aluminium = 55.9% by mass), were used as the alkaline
atoms in the source materials are induced by activators. In order to avoid the effect of
alkaline solutions to dissolve and form a gel. unknown contaminants in the mixing water, the
The polymerisation process may be assisted by sodium hydroxide flake was dissolved in
applied heat, and followed by drying. The distilled water and the activator liquid was
geopolymer gel binds the loose coarse aggre- prepared at least one day prior to its use. To
gates, fine aggregates and other un-reacted improve the workability of fresh concrete, a
materials together to form the geopolymer commercially available naphthalene-based
concrete. The chemical reaction period is superplasticizer was used. Four types of locally
substantially fast. available aggregates, i.e. 20 mm aggregate, 14
mm aggregate, 7 mm aggregate, and fine sand,
Davidovits [9,10] claims that the Egyptian in saturated surface dry condition were mixed
Pyramids were built by casting geopolymer on together. The grading of this combined
site. He also reported that this material has aggregate had a fineness modulus (FM) of 5.0.
excellent mechanical properties, does not
Manufacture and Test of Specimens
dissolve in acidic solutions, and does not
generate any deleterious alkali-aggregate The aggregates and the fly ash were mixed dry
reaction even in the presence of high alkalinity in a pan mixer for 3 minutes. The alkaline
[4]. Some of the immediate applications of solutions and the superplasticizer were mixed
geopolymer concrete are marine structures, pre- together, then added to the solid particles in the
cast concrete products such as railway sleepers, mixer, and mixed for another 3 to 5 minutes.
sewer pipes, pre-fabricated units for the housing The fresh concrete had a stiff consistency and
market etc., as well as waste containment or was glossy in appearance. The mixture was cast
encapsulation. in 100x200 mm cylinder steel moulds in three
layers. Each layer received 60 manual strokes
Only limited research data on geopolymer and vibrated for 10 seconds on a vibrating table.
concrete are available in the literature. Earlier Five cylinders were prepared for each test
work by the authors [11,12] reported the variable.
manufacturing process and the effect of various
Immediately after casting, the samples were
parameters such as curing temperature, curing
covered by a film, and left in room temperature
time, sodium silicate-to-sodium hydroxide ratio,
for 30-60 minutes. The specimens were then
sodium hydroxide-to-free water ratio and the
cured in an oven at a specified temperature for a
age of concrete on the compressive strength of period of time in accordance with the test
geopolymer concrete. variables selected. The aim of covering the
samples was to reduce the loss of water due to
evaporation during curing at an elevated
EXPERIMENTAL WORK temperature.

Materials At the end of the curing period, the 100x200 mm

test cylinders were removed from the oven, and
In the experimental work, class F-fly ash kept in the moulds for six hours in order to
obtained from Collie Power Station, Western avoid drastic change of the environment. The
Australia, was used as the base material. Table specimens were then removed from the moulds,
1 shows the chemical composition of the fly ash, left to air dry at room temperature until loaded
as determined by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) in compression at the specified age in a
analysis. universal test machine. The loading rate and
other procedures used were in accordance with

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 D. Hardjito, et al. / Factors Influencing The Compressive Strength / CED, Vol. 6, No. 2, 88–93, September 2004

the details specified in the relevant Australian 100

Standard for making and testing OPC concrete.

7 day Comp. strength (MPa)

80

60
TEST RESULTS
40
Table 2. Detail of Solutions and Curing of 20
Specimens
0
Concentration of NaOH solution (Molarity) 8M
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

th
Sodium silicate/NaOH solution by mass 2.5
Curing time 24 hours Curing time (hrs)
Curing temperature 60oC
Figure 2. Influence of Curing Time on Compressive
In this paper, the effects of various parameters Strength
on the compressive strength of geopolymer
concrete are reported. Each of the test data Effect of Curing Time
points plotted in various graphs corresponds to
the mean value of the compressive strengths of Figure 2 shows the influence of curing time on
five test cylinders in a series. The standard the compressive strength. Longer curing time
deviations were plotted on the test data points improves the polymerisation process resulting in
as the error bar. higher compressive strength. Davidovits [4]
noted that when geopolymer is made using
The details of the solutions used in the mix, and geological materials such as special metakaolin
the curing condition are given in Table 2, called KANDOXI as the source material, curing
otherwise it will be stated specifically. The at a lower temperature for a shorter period of
activator liquids-to-fly ash ratio by mass was time is sufficient to achieve satisfactory results.
kept constant approximately at 0.35. The coarse The results shown in Figure 2 indicate that
and fine aggregates constituted about 77 longer curing time does not produce weaker
percent by mass in the mixes. material as claimed by van Jaarsveld et al [13].
However, the increase in strength after curing
Compressive Strength at Different Ages for 48 hours is not significant.
Figure 1 shows the effect of age of concrete on
Effect of Superplasticizer
the compressive strength. Because the chemical
reaction of the geopolymer gel is due to In order to study the effect of superplasticizer,
substantially fast polymerisation process, the the other test parameters such as mix
compressive strength does not vary with the age composition, curing period, curing time etc. were
of concrete. This observation is in contrast to the kept constant. The superplasticizer was added
well-known behaviour of OPC concrete, which in proportion to the fly ash in the mix by mass.
undergoes hydration process and hence gains The cylinders were tested in compression on the
strength over the time. 7th-day after casting.

In the fresh state, the geopolymer concrete has a

80 stiff consistency. Although adequate compaction
70 was achievable, an improvement in the worka-
60 bility was considered as desirable. Tests were
Compressive strength (MPa)

50 therefore performed to study the effect of adding

40 commercially available naphthalene-based
30 superplasticizer. The results of these tests are
20 shown in Figure 3. The addition of
10 superplasticizer improved the workability of the
0 fresh concrete but had very little effect on the
0 20 40 60 80 100 compressive strength up to about two percent of
Age (days)
this admixture to the mass of fly ash. Beyond
this value, there is some degradation of the
compressive strength.
Figure 1. Compressive Strength at Different Ages

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 D. Hardjito, et al. / Factors Influencing The Compressive Strength / CED, Vol. 6, No. 2, 88–93, September 2004

Effect of Rest Period Prior to Curing 2 NaOH Æ Na2O + H2O (1)

Table 3. Basic Mix Used in Water Content

Compressive Strength at 7 days

70 Series Tests
60
Concentration of NaOH solution (Molarity) 14 M
50
Sodium silicate/NaOH solution by mass 2.5
40
(MPa)

Curing time 24 hours

30 Curing temperature 30, 45, 75, 90oC
20 Rest for 60' o
Cured at 60 C
10 No Rest for 24 hrs In addition, the fly ash also contained a small
0 trace of Na2O (see Table 1). For a given
0 1 2 3 4 geopolymer mixture, the moles of H2O and Na2O
% of Superplasticiser (by mass of fly ash)
from sodium silicate solution, sodium hydroxide
solution, and fly ash can therefore be summed
Figure 3. Effect of superplasticizer on compressive together and hence the molar ratio of H2O-to-
strength Na2O can be calculated. For the basic mixture
given in Table 3, this ratio was calculated as
Figure 3 shows two sets of data. In one set, the 10.0.
test cylinders were allowed to rest for 60
minutes after casting and then placed in the In order to vary the H2O-to-Na2O molar ratio,
oven for curing at 60oC for 24 hours. In the other water was added to the basic mixture (Table 3)
set, there was no rest period and the test to yield two other values of molar ratio of H2O-
cylinders were placed in the oven immediately to-Na2O. By adding extra water of 10.6 kg/m3,
after casting. the molar ratio of H2O-to-Na2O became 11.25,
and by adding extra water of 21.2 kg/m3, this
The results plotted in Figure 3 show that there ratio was 12.50. The 7-day compressive
is very little difference between the strengths of strengths of geopolymer concrete cylinders
the two sets of specimens. This is an important produced from the basic mixture and the two
outcome in practical applications of geopolymer other mixtures as described above, are plotted in
concrete. For instance, when geopolymer Figure 4 for different curing temperatures.
concrete is used in precast concrete industry,
the results in Figure 1 indicate that there is 80
Compressive Strength at 7 days (MPa)

sufficient time available between casting of 70

90oC
75oC
products and sending them to the curing room. 60
45oC
50
30oC
Effect of Water Content in the Mix 40
30
Previous research by Barbosa et al. [14] on
20
geopolymer pastes showed that the water
10
content in the mix played an important role on
0
the properties of geopolymer binders. In order to
9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00
study the effect of water content on the
compressive strength of geopolymer concrete,
H 2O/Na 2O

several tests were performed. The details of the

basic mix used in this series of tests are given in Figure 4. Effect of the molar H2O-to-Na2O ratio on
Table 3. The other details of the mixes were the Compressive Strength
same as those used in the earlier part of this
paper. The percentage of the superplasticizer to As to be expected, the addition of water
the mass of fly ash was 1.5%, the delay time was improved the workability of the mixtures. The
30 minutes, and there was no rest period. In results shown in Figure 4 clearly demonstrate
order to quantify the water content in the the effect of the molar ratio of H2O-to-Na2O on
geopolymer concrete mix, the ratio of water the compressive strength of geopolymer
(H2O)-to-sodium oxide (Na2O) was calculated in concrete. The trends of these test results are
terms of molar ratio of the oxides. Note that similar to those observed by Barbosa et al [14]
both H2O and Na2O are identified in both the for their tests on geopolymer pastes. The results
activator liquids used in this study. That is, the shown in Figure 4 also confirm that an increase
sodium silicate is composed of H2O and Na2O. in the curing temperature increases the concrete
Also, the sodium hydroxide flake (NaOH), which compressive strength. However, increasing the
was dissolved in water, can be expressed as. curing temperature from 75oC to 90oC did not

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 D. Hardjito, et al. / Factors Influencing The Compressive Strength / CED, Vol. 6, No. 2, 88–93, September 2004

show any significant gain in compressive superplasticizer can be utilised to improve

strength. the workability of the fresh geopolymer
concrete without resulting in any segregation
and degradation in the compressive strength
Compressive Strength at 7 days (MPa)

80
90oC (Figure 3) up to 2% of this admixture by
70
75oC mass of fly ash.
60
50
45oC d. There is very little difference in compressive
40 30oC strengths of specimens cured immediately
30
after casting and those sent to curing 60
20
minutes after casting (Figure 3).
10 e. Water content plays an important role in
0 determining the compressive strength of
0.150 0.170 0.190 0.210 0.230 geopolymer concrete as well as the worka-
Water/Geopolymer Solids (by mass)
bility of the fresh concrete (Figsure 4 & 5).
f. An increase in the curing temperature
increases the concrete compressive strength,
Figure 5. Effect of the Water-to-Geopolymer Solids ratio especially up to 75oC (Figs. 4 and 5).
on Compressive Strength

The effect of water content is also illustrated in ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Figure 5 by plotting the compressive strength
versus water-to-geopolymer solids ratio by mass. The authors are grateful to Dr. Terry Gourley
For a given geopolymer concrete, the total mass and Mr. Chris Busck for introducing them to the
of water in the mixture is taken as the sum of fascinating topic of Geopolymers and for their
the mass of water in the sodium silicate advice and encouragement. The first and second
solution, the mass of water in the sodium authors are recipients of the Australian
hydroxide solution, and the mass of extra water, Development Scholarships. The third author is
if any added to the mixture. The mass of supported by the TPSDP - Asian Development
geopolymer solids is the sum of the mass of fly Bank.
ash, the mass of sodium hydroxide flake, and
the mass of sodium silicate solids (the mass of
Na2O and SiO2 in sodium silicate solution). REFERENCES

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