Materials Today: Proceedings 32 (2020) 871–877

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Effects of ultra fine slag as mineral admixture on the compressive

strength, water absorption and permeability of rice husk ash based
geopolymer concrete
Bharat Bhushan Jindal a,⇑, Parveen Jangra b, Atul Garg b
a
School of Civil Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra 182320, Jammu & Kashmir, India
b
Department of Civil Engineering, DCRUST, Murthal 131027, Haryana, India

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

Article history: Geopolymer concrete (GPC) is a sustainable green concrete, replaces ordinary Portland cement concrete
Received 17 February 2020 prepared by activating aluminosilicate based industrial waste materials with an alkaline solution as an
Received in revised form 9 April 2020 alkaline activator. In this paper rice husk ash (RHA) based GPC was prepared with varying the percent-
Accepted 14 April 2020
ages of ultra-fine slag (UFS) and RHA, activated with an alkaline mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium
Available online 29 April 2020
silicate with desired proportion. The ambient curing method was used at an average temperature of 27-
degree Celsius. The compressive strength, the durability property of GPC in terms of water permeability
Keywords:
and water absorption were investigated. Effects of several parameters such as the percentage of ultrafine
Geopolymer concrete
Ultra-fine slag
slag, duration of curing, RHA content on water permeability, and water absorption of geopolymer con-
Alccofine crete was studied. The result shows that the inclusion of ultra-fine slag significantly improvises the dura-
Durability bility properties of RHA based geopolymer concrete. GPC specimens prepared with ultra-fine slag appear
Water absorption to have improved densification. The analysis of results shows that with a higher percentage of ultra-fine
slag in rice husk ash geopolymer concrete has a substantial effect in enhancing the strength properties.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd International Con-
ference on Innovative Technologies for Clean and Sustainable Development.

1. Introduction by controlling the manufacturing and operational phases which

is considereed currently to be a vital parameter in the construction
The manufacture of conventional Portland cement (PC) based industry. Globally, the engineering community and researchers
concrete demands high energy (requires 4GJ), cost and greenhouse have shown their serious concern towards environmental sustain-
gases emissions (annually 13,500 million) [1,2], further contributes ability by partially utilizing industrial, agricultural and construc-
to the greenhouse gases by releasing about 5–7% of total CO2 which tion wastes into the construction materials.
will rise by 50% in the future from current levels [1]. The construc- Geopolymer materials do not emit any greenhouse gasses dur-
tion industry demand of Portland cement may rise up to 5.2 billion ing production as they utilize by-products such as fly ash, slag, and
metric tonnes in 2020 [3] which is perceived to be unsustainable. RHA as the precursor material. Rice husk ash is the waste material
Further, growing industrialization and urbanization led to the obtained from the burning of rice husk as a fuel in the industry but
release of industrial waste by-products such as fly ash, rice husk some amount of greenhouses gases may be emitted during trans-
ash, and slag. The environmentally compatible disposal of these portation but it can be emitted in the transportation of conven-
industrial and agricultural wastes is also another serious concern. tional cementitious materials, so its effect may be very much
Thus, the need of the hour to develop suitable building materials limited in comparison to the CO2 generated during the production
which can take the call of sustainability in construction along with of ordinary portland cement. Moreover, in comparison to OPC
further significantly reducing the adverse effects on environment cement, no natural resources are exploited in the production pro-
cess of geopolymer concrete. Such material, when reacted with
metallic alkalis, can form binders with equal or superior engineer-
⇑ Corresponding author. ing properties than conventional cement-based concrete [4,5].
E-mail address: bbjal1972@hotmail.com (B. Bhushan Jindal).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.04.219
2214-7853/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd International Conference on Innovative Technologies for Clean and Sustainable
Development.
872 B. Bhushan Jindal et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 32 (2020) 871–877

These types of geopolymer binders can also help in achieving sus-

tainability of cementitious materials in the construction industry
by not only reducing the energy requirements during production
but also tackling the issue of industrial waste to a large extent
[6–8].
Rice husk ash (RHA) is a waste by-product released during the
burning process of rice husk. It is estimated that nearly 647.7 mil-
lion tons of rice husk are produced per year worldwide which on
burning generates approximately 22% rice husk ash [9]. RHA pos-
sesses good pozzolanic properties and fine particle size and is gen-
erally used as an admixture to enhance concrete properties in
high-performance concrete [10–12]. RHA can be activated with
sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate for dissolution of Al and Si
ions, to produce geopolymers [13,14].
Ultra-fine slag (UFS) is a microfine material obtained from slag
through controlled granulation which is a by-product of a steel
plant with non-toxic and environment-friendly nature [15,16]. To
produce geopolymers it can be used as an additive as it is rich in
SiO2 and CaO. UFS improves the characteristics of fly ash based
GPC [16,17]. It has also been shown that the improvement in the
strength characteristics of concrete with UFS was due to the co-
existence of sodium aluminosilicate hydrate (NASH), calcium sili-
cate hydrate (CSH) and aluminum calcium silicate hydrate (CASH)
gels [18–20].
Several researchers have reported the studies on the mechani-
cal strength as well as microstructural properties of concrete incor-
porating ultrafine materials as additives, but the prevalence of
hybrid rice husk ash-ultra fine slag (RHA-UFS) geopolymers have
not been reported yet. The current research is aimed to address
the issue of environmental sustainability by utilizing rice husk as
a primary aluminosilicate source in the development of geopoly-
mer concrete. Ultrafine slag is used as a source of calcium as a par-
tial replacement of RHA in geopolymer paste. Properties like
compressive strength, water absorption, percentage permeable
voids, and permeability are assessed through a wide-ranging
experimental program.
Fig. 1a. SEM image of RHA.

2. Experimental programme
activate the polymerization process. Sodium hydroxide in pellets
2.1. Materials form was used to prepare the NaOH solution with required molar-
ity and sodium silicate solution with SiO2/Na2O between 1.90 and
The chemical compositions of high silica RHA and UFS are given 2.01 was used. Normal tap water is used whenever required. Nat-
in Table 1. UFS contains a high content of CaO and Al2O3 which can ural locally available fine sand and coarse aggregates with maxi-
show good reactive properties in the matrix to form the additional mum size 14, 10 and 7 mm of specific gravity 2.60, fineness
calcium-based hydration products. The Scanning Electron Micro- modulus 7.10 and water absorption value is 0.8% confirming to IS
scopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction pattern of the RHA particles 383–1970 [13] are used.
are shown in Figs. 1(a) and 1(b). It can be seen from Figs. 1(a)
and 1(b) that RHA particles are of irregular shape and amorphous 2.2. GPC mixtures
nature, respectively. Figs. 2(a) and 2(b) UFS indicates the smooth
particle shape and presence of the crystalline phase which is In the absence of any standard mix design method, the pro-
calcite. posed mix design is done in reference to our earlier publication
The glassy phase is indicated by the broad hump between 25°– on fly ash-based GPC [14,15]. Geopolymer concrete was prepared
40°, 2-theta angle [11,12]. RHA and UFS were tested for specific for different contents of RHA (RHA = 350, 370 and 400 kg/m3) as
gravity and reported to be 2.35 and 2.19, respectively. The specific a primary binder. Similar to that of conventional concrete, coarse
surface area of RHA and UFS is 14340 cm2/gm and more than and fine aggregates were taken approximately 75–77% by mass
12,000 cm2/gm, respectively. UFS was obtained commercially of the entire mixture. A fixed W-GPS (water-geopolymer solids)
under the brand name of Alccofine. A mixture of Sodium hydroxide [15] ratio of 0.27 was adopted focusing to achieve a better com-
and sodium silicate was taken as an alkaline activator solution to pressive strength. Alkaline liquid to binder (AL-binder) ratio was

Table 1
Chemical composition (wt.%) of processed rice husk ash and ultrafine slag.

Raw material SiO2 Al2O3 SO3 K2O P 2 O5 CaO MgO Fe2O3 MnO Loss on Ignition
Rice husk Ash 90.0 0.46 – 4.60 2.43 1.10 0.77 0.43 0.11 3.90
Ultra-fine Slag 33.9 22.6 0.23 – – 32.8 7.8 1.4 – –
 B. Bhushan Jindal et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 32 (2020) 871–877 873

strength [21]. A higher compressive strength was planned to

achieve. The sodium hydroxide solution was prepared for 16 M
molarity by dissolving 444 g of NaOH pellets per kg in the solution
(water + pallets). A Naphthalene Sulphonate based water reducing
superplasticizer was used in all the mixes so that a workable mix
can be produced without sacrificing any strength.

2.3. Preparation, casting, and curing of geopolymer concrete specimens

The mixing of geopolymer concrete constituents was done in a

rotating pan mixture machine having an 80-liter capacity at room
temperature. Before mixing, the ingredients of concrete were
stored in a moisture-proof container to keep them in a dry state
so that the hydration can be prevented to avoid difficulties in han-
dling. Aggregates of all types which were used in the current study
were maintained in a saturated surface-dry (SSD) condition for at
least 24 h before use. It was ensured that the surface of the ingre-
dients such as that of aggregate particles must be coated with bin-
der paste and the ingredients were blended into a uniform mass.
The superplasticizer was mixed with liquid components during
the mixing at a slow rate. After mixing all the ingredients uni-
formly in the pan mixture for a minute, the concrete mixture so
obtained was poured into the cube molds confirming to IS 516-
Fig. 1b. XRD of RHA. 1959 [23] and put on the vibrating table for proper compaction.
The compaction is done for 1 to 2 min. Cube molds so prepared
were kept open to the sky at room temperature. Cube then
demoulded after 3 days and again it was ensured that the speci-
mens must remain undisturbed at room temperature till testing.
A set of four cube specimens was tested for each test, and the aver-
age value was recorded.

2.4. Testing methodology adopted

2.4.1. Compressive strength

The compressive strength testing of GPC specimens was per-
formed by using a power-operated compression testing machine
to analyze the 3 days, 7 days and 28 days of casting as per IS
516-1959 [23]. The average compressive strength of four number
of cube specimen was recorded.
Fig. 2a. SEM image of ultrafine slag (Alccofine).

2.4.2. Water permeability

Water permeability test was performed on geopolymer con-
crete specimens of 150 mm cubes which were subjected to 28 days
of curing conditions in compliance to the guidelines mentioned in
German standard code DIN -1048 (Part 5) The effect of different
contents of rice husk ash and ultra-fine slag on the permeability
of geopolymer concrete specimens was investigated. A number of
three cube samples were tested for each mixture proportion. The
cube samples were kept in the testing machine and constant water
pressure of 0.5 N/mm2 was applied at the bottom face in such a
way to force the water to penetrate into the sample [24]. The sam-
ples after this test were removed from the apparatus and then split
open from the center through the face which was exposed to
water. Thus the average depth of water penetration was measured
Fig. 2b. XRD of UFS (Alccofine). subsequently the effect of RHA content and ultra-fine slag content
on water permeability of GPC was analyzed.

kept 0.38, 0.42 and 0.46 with a different binder content of 350 kg, 2.4.3. Water absorption
370 kg and 400 kg per meter cubic of Geopolymer mix to achieve Water absorption of concrete is closely related to the perme-
the workable mix. The different GPC mixture composition is shown ability. Water absorption testing of concrete measures the mass
in Table 2. Geopolymer concrete mixes with different quantity of of water absorbed by specimen per unit mass of the specimen in
UFS (0%, 5%, and 10%) of RHA were taken. Sodium hydroxide of the state of the pre-dried concrete mass. The specimen is subjected
16 M (Molarity i.e. Mol/Ltr) is taken. The molar concentration of to the condition of completely immersed in water until saturation
16 M is decided based on trial tests performed on geopolymer con- is reached. The water absorption value is calculated in terms of the
crete samples of 8 M, 10 M, 12 M, and 16 M and after finding that volume of the percentage of permeable voids. A water absorption
16 M molar solution is giving better workability and compressive test was conducted on concrete specimens after 28 days of casting
874 B. Bhushan Jindal et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 32 (2020) 871–877

Table 2
Mix proportions of rice husk ash geopolymer concrete.

Mix RHA FAG Coarse aggregates NaOH Soln. Na2SiO3 Water UFS (%)
7 mm 10 mm 14 mm
M1A0 350 575 269 460 614 38 95 38 0
M1A5 350 575 269 460 614 38 95 38 5
M1A10 350 575 269 460 614 38 95 38 10
M2A0 370 565 260 450 600 44.4 111 33.5 0
M2A5 370 565 260 450 600 44.4 111 33.5 5
M2A10 370 565 260 450 600 44.4 111 33.5 10
M3A0 400 540 255 445 565 52.58 131.45 29 0
M3A5 400 540 255 445 565 52.58 131.45 29 5
M3A10 400 540 255 445 565 52.58 131.45 29 10

RHA: Rice Husk Ash; FAG: Fine aggregates; UFS: Ultrafine Slag; All materials are taken in Kg.

to evaluate relative porosity by evaluating the percentage perme- UFS addition to RHA based geopolymer introduces additional
able voids in accordance with ASTM C 642-13 [25]. GPC specimens calcium, silica and alumina content in the mixture which helps
of 150 mm cube size were kept in a hot air oven at 105 °C for 24 h. in improving the Si-Al bonds and results in enhanced geopolymeri-
This step was repeated until the difference in mass in two consec- sation reaction. Moreover, it also promotes the production of addi-
utive value was negligible. Now, these specimens were taken out of tional hydration products such as calcium silicate gel (C-S-H) along
the oven and kept in open for air cooling. These specimens so with sodium aluminosilicate gel (N-A-S-H) and calcium alumi-
called at room tempearatue were then completely immersed in nosilicate gel (C-A-S-H) which densify the microstructure resulting
water, and subsequently, the gain in weight was recorded until a in the enhanced compressive strength along with producing the
constant weight is achieved. The initial surface absorption (IA%) heat of hydration which further accelerates the polymerization
value after 30 min and final absorption (FA%) value were recorded process and results in enhancing the mechanical properties [30–
and analysis were conducted as per the recommendations of the 32]. UFS was taken as 5% and 10% of RHA content. It can be ana-
Euro-International Committee for Concrete (CEB) [26]. lyzed from Fig. 3, that the compressive strength gets increased
with the inclusion of UFS in the range of 50–70% and 80–120% with
3. Results and discussion the addition of 5% and 10% UFS in GPC containing 350 kg/m3 of
RHA which further increased with increased UFS along with
3.1. Compressive strength increased RHA content. The 28 days compressive strength also
showed a similar increase in strength pattern. The maximum com-
It can be seen from Fig. 3 that the compressive strength of RHA pressive strength of 50 MPa was achieved with a rice husk ash con-
based geopolymer concrete has shown an increasing trend with tent of 400 kg/m (M3A10) along with the addition of 10% UFS on
the increase in RHA content which further increased more predom- 28th day of casting.
inantly with the inclusion of UFS in all ages. The early ages com- It can be concluded from above-stated results that the compres-
pressive strength (3 days and 7 days) increased in the range of sive strength of RHA-GPC can be significantly enhanced with the
50–100% and 120–180% with an increase in RHA powder from addition of UFS Moreover, the compressive strength of RHA-GPC
350 kg/m3 to 370 kg/m3 and 400 kg/m3, respectively. The 28 days increased with higher RHA along with the addition of UFS. A signif-
compressive strength was observed to be increased by nearly icantly higher compressive strength of 50 MPa can also be attained
20–30%, with increased RHA content without UFS. Increased RHA by RHA-GPC when RHA content of 400 kg/m3 with the addition of
material attributed to increasing the binder material which pro- 10% UFS.
vides the more specific surface area with increased Si-Al bond for
polymerization resulted in the development of denser concrete 3.2. Water permeability
with improved compressive strength [14,22,27]. The improved
compressive strength in RHA based geopolymer concrete in the The depth of water penetration provides a qualitative hint of
current study is also attributed to the better fineness and high sil- the durability of GPC. Further, the depth of penetration, the micro-
ica content [28–30]. pore structure of concrete, compressive strength and durability are

Fig. 3. Compressive Strength of RHA-GPC with varying age, RHA and UFS.
 B. Bhushan Jindal et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 32 (2020) 871–877 875

correlated to each other [33–35]. The water permeability test was 3.3. Water absorption
performed on geopolymer concrete cubes of 150 mm, after 28 days
of casting in accordance with DIN -1048 (Part 5) [24]. The perme- In the earlier section, results of the water permeability test per-
ability test results obtained for different mixes of RHA based GPC formed on geopolymer concrete according to the German code
are shown in Fig. 4. A decrease in depth of water penetration DIN-1048 (Part 5) were discussed in elaboration. The water perme-
was observed on increasing RHA content as well as UFS percentage. ability tests as per DIN -1048 (Part 5) lacks in providing any direct
The depth of water penetration was observed to be decreased by relationship between the depth of water penetration and the dis-
10% (M2A0) and 13% (M3A0) on increasing the RHA from 350 to charge coefficient of the flow of water, as is available in the case
370 and 400 kg/m3, respectively. A minimum depth of penetration of direct flow permeability test. The permeability of concrete indi-
of 26 mm was noticed in the case of RHA content of 400 kg/m3. The rectly depends upon the permeable voids in the concrete. Water
higher RHA content may have plugged the porosity due to its absorption test is another prominent test that determines the per-
increased micro-fine content. The results obtained for RHA-GPC meability of geopolymer concrete which increased with an
with the addition of UFS shows a significant decrease in the depth increase in voids content. Therefore, the water absorption test
of water penetration. A minimum water penetration depth of was also conducted on GPC after 28 days to assess the relative
19 mm was achieved in mix M3A10 containing 400 kg/m3 of RHA porosity in accordance with ASTM C 642-13 [25]. The results of
content. water absorption tests on RHA based GPC are shown in Figs. 5
It can be concluded from above-discussed results that UFS (Alc- and 6. The initial water absorption (IA%) results are presented in
cofine) due to its controlled granulation and the microfine struc- Fig. 5 and the final water absorption (FA%) after 72 h are shown
ture helps in reducing the pores in GPC. It can further be in Fig. 6. It can be analyzed from above-discussed figures that the
concluded that RHA in combination with UFS can significantly percentage of initial and final water absorption decreases with an
improve the permeability properties of GPC [36–39] because of increase in binder (rice husk ash) content and UFS. The IA% and FA%
development of additional hydration products such as CSH gel decreased in the ranges by 55% and 32%on increasing the rice husk
along with increased quantity of CASH/NASH products. Since the ash from 350 kg/m3 to 400 kg/m3 along with the addition of 10%
results show that the overall depth of penetration in the current UFS.
study on RHA based GPC is less than 30 mm, therefore, it can be Considering the limits recommended by Euro-International
concluded that GPC so prepared is having low permeability as Committee for Concrete (CEB) [26] as shown in Fig. 5 it can be con-
per DIN 1048 permeability standards. cluded that the geopolymer mixes prepared with 350 kg/m3 of

Fig. 4. Depth of water penetration of RHA-GPC with varying RHA and UFS.

Fig. 5. Initial water absorption (%) of RHA-GPC with varying RHA and UFS.
876 B. Bhushan Jindal et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 32 (2020) 871–877

Fig. 6. Final water absorption (%) of RHA-GPC with varying RHA and UFS.

RHA with and without UFS falls under the average category of recommended that more tests and trials can be performed and cre-
geopolymer concrete. The mix of category M2 which contains ate the scope for future reserchers.
370 kg/m3 of RHA without UFS too falls in the average category
but the quality of this mix increases with the addition of UFS and
CRediT authorship contribution statement
the resulting mix can be treated as ‘‘Good” category of concrete
with low permeability. Further, the mix with higher RHA content
Bharat Bhushan Jindal: Conceptualization, Methodology. Parv-
(M3A0, M3A5, and M3A10) with and without UFS content showed
een Jangra: Writing - review & editing. Atul Garg: Writing - review
a very low water absorption and therefore, the geopolymer con-
& editing.
crete so prepared is of higher compressive strength and considered
as a good quality of concrete with better durability Therefore with
the addition of UFS, the RHA based geopolymer concrete of higher Declaration of Competing Interest
compressive strength and lower water absorption or lower perme-
ability can be produced. The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
The lower water absorption value indicates the limited pore cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
connectivity and reduced porosity in RHA based geopolymer con- to influence the work reported in this paper.
crete The higher rice husk ash content and UFS also attributes
towards densifying the microstructure of geopolymer concrete by References
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