Experimental study of ductility and mechanical properties of geopolymer concrete produced with aluminosilicate materials

The purpose of this research is producing geopolymer concrete in order to reduce the consumption of cement in the construction industry to preserve environmental benefits. In this study, the production of geopolymer concrete using mineral soils of different regions of Iran and industrial by-products has been studied and parameters such as type of raw material, curing temperature, applying pressure during construction, type of alkaline solution and age of samples on compressive strength of concrete samples have been studied. 120 cubic samples with dimensions of 50 × 50mm and 64 cubic samples with dimensions of 100 × 100mm for compressive strength test, 76 cylindrical specimens with a diameter of 150 mm and a height of 300 mm for compressive and tensile strength test and 9 beams with dimensions of 150×150×1200 mm for flexural strength test were made. The ductility and load bearing capacity of the geopolymer and cement concrete samples were compared and the results were analyzed. The compressive strength of the geopolymer concrete produced in this study by using slag, which are the by-products of the industry, and the mineral soils of zeolite, perlite and bentonite, was obtained between 10 and 62 MPa under different curing conditions. Geopolymer concrete showed better results in tensile tests on cylindrical specimens and four-point bending tests than conventional concrete on steel reinforced beams. The ductility of beam samples made of geoplymer concrete containing zeolite and slag is about 14% and 43% higher than that of cement concrete samples in the flexural strength test, respectively