INFLUENCE OF CURING CONDITIONS ANDALKALI HYDROXIDE ON STRENGTH OF FLYASH GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE

Geopolymer concrete is known as an alternative to Portland cement, with low carbon dioxide emissions compared with the conventional building materials. In this research, the influence of curing conditions and alkali hydroxide were investigated, using curing temperatures between 40 to 100?, curing times from 4 to 12 hours, and various types of hydroxide and concentrations of sodium hydroxide solution. Geopolymerization needs energy and time to occur, and higher curing temperatures resulted in larger compressive strength, while longer curing times resulted in higher compressive strength. At the same curing temperature, longer curing time resulted in a higher compressive strength because the longer curing time extends the chemical reaction. For geopolymer concrete, sodium hydroxide is a better property than potassium hydroxide, because the atomic size of sodium anion is smaller than potassium. Further, the strength of concrete increased when the concentration of sodium hydroxide increased. In conclusion, geopolymer concrete is suitable for traditional building materials. Finding renewable materials to satisfy the increasing demand for building structures will be the primary challenge in future.