Advanced Materials Research Vols.

341-342 (2012) pp 189-193

Online available since 2011/Sep/27 at www.scientific.net
© (2012) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.341-342.189

Correlation between Na2SiO3/NaOH Ratio and Fly Ash/Alkaline Activator

Ratio to the Strength of Geopolymer
A.M. Mustafa Al Bakri1,a, H. Kamarudin1,b, I. Khairul Nizar2,c, M. Bnhussain3,d,
Y. Zarina1,e, and A. R. Rafiza1,f
1
Green Concrete@UniMAP, School of Material Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP),
01000, P.O. Box 77, D/A Pejabat Pos Besar, Kangar, Perlis, Malaysia
2
School of Environmental Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), 01000, P.O. Box 77,
D/A Pejabat Pos Besar, Kangar, Perlis, Malaysia
3
King Abdul Aziz City Science & Technology (KACST), P.O Box 6086, Riyadh 11442, Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia

E-mail: a [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

d
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Keywords: geopolymer, ratio Na2SiO3/NaOH, ratio fly ash to alkaline activator, compressive
strength

Abstract. Geopolymer requires an alkaline activator to induce it pozzolanic property and to

accelerate the geopolymerisation process. The geopolymerisation process occurs due to the mixing
of fly ash, sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide as the alkaline activator, which produces
aluminosilicate gel that acts as a binder. As such, the ratios of fly ash to alkaline activator and
Na2SiO3/NaOH play an important role in obtaining desirable compressive strength; the
concentration of NaOH used in this study was 12 M. Different ratios of fly ash to alkaline activator
(0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0) and Na2SiO3/NaOH (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0) were investigated
in order to determine the maximum compressive strength. The alkaline activator was mixed with fly
ash with different ratio as mentioned above and the samples were cured at 70°C for 24 hours and
tested on the seventh day. The maximum compressive strength was obtained when the ratios of fly
ash to alkaline activator and Na2SiO3/NaOH were 2.0 and 2.5 with compressive strength 73.86
MPa.

Introduction

The production of geopolymer is now well accepted because it involves fewer emissions of CO2 to
the environment. C. Gokhale [1] has verified that the manufacturing of geopolymer emits on
average five times less CO2 than the manufacture of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). As CO2
emissions from OPC kilns play a significant role in global greenhouse gas concentrations, this may
be a large contributing factor in the incorporation of geopolymers into cement and concrete
applications [2].
In geopolymer, the geopolymerisation process among fly ash, sodium silicate and NaOH
produces aluminosilicate gel. The mixture of fly ash with the alkaline activator (sodium silicate and
NaOH) is enriched with sodium (Na) and aluminum (Al); as such, the reaction of fly ash with the
alkaline activator is accelerated, considering that the geopolymer paste is richer in Al which comes
from fly ash. Moreover, the amount of Al in the aluminosilicate gel indicates the level of fly ash
reactivity [3]. Hence, the ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator and the ratio of sodium silicate to
NaOH affected the strength of the geopolymer. Many researchers have experimented with different
ratios to determine the best ratio to produce the maximum compressive strength.
Using four different solutions of alkaline activator and two different ratios of fly ash to alkaline
activator (3.33 and 4), it showed that the best compressive strength was obtained when the mixtures
used a combination of sodium silicate and NaOH as the alkaline activator and cured the samples for
24 hours at 65°C [4]. In addition, the researchers used a ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator in the

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190 Material and Manufacturing Technology II

range of 2.5 to 3.3 and a ratio of sodium silicate to NaOH in the range of 0.4 to 2.5, whereas a
concentration of NaOH solution in the range of 8 M to 16 M had been suggested [5]. Furthermore,
the ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator and the ratio of sodium silicate to NaOH indicated the
parameters affecting the compressive strength of the geopolymer [6].
Also, heat curing was required to produce a fast geopolymerisation process to achieve an
acceptable strength within very short periods [5, 7-8]. Thus, the mixture is appropriate for precast
products used for practical proposes. The objective of this study was to identify the mix design
proportions that can produce optimum compressive strength of geopolymer paste.

Materials and Experimental Details

Raw Materials
The fly ash was obtained from the Manjung power station, Lumut, Perak, Malaysia, and it was
equivalent to ASTM Class F fly ash. The alkaline activators used in this study were sodium silicate
(Na2SiO3) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Na2SiO3 was in the form of a solution and NaOH in
pellet form with 97% purity.
Mix Proportion and Mixing Process
The concentration of NaOH used in this study was 12 M where Palomo et.al [9] and Mustafa et.al
[10] found that this concentration lead to a higher compressive strength. Meanwhile, the ratios of
fly ash to alkaline activator in this study were 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0. However, only three
ratios were used: 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5. The ratios of 0.5 and 1.0 could not be used because of the high
workability of geopolymer paste, which make it hard to handle, whereas the ratio of 3.0 could not
be used due to low workability. The ratio of Na2SiO3/NaOH used five different ratios: 0.5, 1.0, 1.5,
2.0 and 2.5. The details of the mixtures are shown in Table 1.

Table: Mix design details.

Fly ash/alkaline activator Na2SiO3/NaOH Fly Ash(g) Na2SiO3 (g) NaOH (g)
1.5 0.5 506.25 112.50 225.00
1.5 1.0 506.25 168.75 168.75
1.5 1.5 506.25 202.50 135.00
1.5 2.0 506.25 225.00 112.50
1.5 2.5 506.25 241.07 96.43
1.5 3.0 506.25 253.13 84.38
2.0 0.5 562.50 93.75 187.50
2.0 1.0 562.50 140.63 140.63
2.0 1.5 562.50 168.75 112.50
2.0 2.0 562.50 187.50 93.75
2.0 2.5 562.50 200.89 80.36
2.0 3.0 562.50 210.94 70.31
2.5 0.5 602.68 80.36 160.71
2.5 1.0 602.68 120.54 120.54
2.5 1.5 602.68 144.64 96.43
2.5 2.0 602.68 160.71 80.36
2.5 2.5 602.68 172.19 68.88
2.5 3.0 602.68 180.80 60.27
 Advanced Materials Research Vols. 341-342 191

Molding and Curing Process

After the mixture was mixed until homogeneous, it was placed in 50mm x 50mm x 50mm cubes. A
minimum of three samples was produced for each mix design to determine the average value of the
compressive strength. The samples were cured at a temperature of 70°C for 24 hours. After that, the
samples were kept at room temperature until the seventh day, when the tests were performed.

Result and Discussion

Fig. 1 shows the compressive strength for ratios of fly ash to alkaline activator at 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5.
The optimum ratio of Na2SiO3/NaOH at 2.5 contributed to a maximum compressive strength (47.65
MPa) for the ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator at 1.5.
Besides that, for a ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator at 2.0, a maximum compressive strength
(73.86 MPa) also was obtained at a ratio of Na2SiO3/NaOH at 2.5.
In addition, for a ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator at 2.5, the ratio of Na2SiO3/NaOH at 2.5
produced the maximum compressive strength (61.43 MPa). Based on the figures below, the patterns
of the graphs were fluctuating. Nevertheless, the value of compressive strength tended to decrease
with a ratio of Na2SiO3/NaOH at more than 2.5 for all ratios of fly ash to alkaline activator.
For comparison, Fig. 1 also represents all ratios of fly ash to alkaline activator; it clearly shows
that a ratio of Na2SiO3/NaOH at 2.5 produced the maximum compressive strength. Among the three
ratios of fly ash to alkaline activator, the maximum compressive strength (73.86 MPa) was
contributed by the ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator at 2. Increasing the ratio of fly ash to alkaline
activator to 2 resulted in an increase in the compressive strength of the geopolymer paste. However,
when the ratio was increased to 2.5, the compressive strength decreased. This might be due to an
excess of fly ash; hence, there may not have been enough liquid (alkaline activator) to mix the
geopolymer homogeneously.

*FA=fly ash, AA=alkaline activator

Fig. 1: The compressive strength of different mix design proportion.

The same situation also occurred with the ratio of Na2SiO3/NaOH. With the ratio of
Na2SiO3/NaOH at 3.0, compressive strength decreased for all ratios of fly ash to alkaline activator;
this might be due to an excess of OH- concentration [11]. In addition, the excess sodium content can
form sodium carbonate by atmospheric carbonation and may disrupt the polymerisation process
[12]. However, Sathia et.al [13] stated that the compressive strength increases with an increased fly
ash content and increased activator solution. This is due to the increase in the sodium oxide content,
which is mainly required for the geopolymerisation reaction.
192 Material and Manufacturing Technology II

As showed in result, at every ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator the optimum compressive
strength was obtained at ratio of Na2SiO3/NaOH at 2.5. For a reason, the compressive strength of
geopolymer paste seems more reliable on ratio of Na2SiO3/NaOH compared to ratio of fly ash to
alkaline activator.
This study demonstrated that the ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator and the ratio of
Na2SiO3/NaOH did influence the compressive strength of geopolymer paste. Mustafa Al Bakri et.al
[14] also found that the ratio of alkaline activator to fly ash had greater influence on the
compressive strength of geopolymer. However, Palomo et.al [4] found contradictory results which
indicated that the ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator was not a relevant parameter for the
compressive strength of geopolymer. Whereas, Chindaprasirt et.al [15] found that the optimum ratio
of Na2SiO3/NaOH was 0.67 to 1.00 to produce maximum compressive strength. The different ratios
may have been the result of the different chemical compositions of fly ash used in this study.

Conclusion
Based on this study, the following conclusions were drawn:
1. The ratio of Na2SiO3/NaOH influence the strength of geopolymer paste more compared to
ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator.
2. The optimum ratio of fly ash to alkaline activator at 2 contributed to the maximum
compressive strength of geopolymer.
3. Ratio of Na2SiO3/NaOH at 2.5 produced the optimum compressive strength.

Acknowledgement
This study was funded by King Abdul Aziz City Science and Technology (KACST). We would like
to extend our appreciation to the Green Concrete @UniMAP and the School of Material
Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP).

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Material and Manufacturing Technology II
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.341-342

Correlation between Na₂SiO₃/NaOH Ratio and Fly

Ash/Alkaline Activator Ratio to the Strength of Geopolymer
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.341-342.189