Flood Mud as Geopolymer Precursor Materials: Effect of Flood Mud/Alkaline Activator and Na2SiO3/NaOH Ratios on Compressive Strength

This paper investigates the potential and suitability of flood mud to be used in geopolymer technique as construction materials. Flood mud was collected from Kelantan, Malaysia and crushed and sieved into powder form. Then, it was mixed with alkaline activator solution (mixture of NaOH and Na2SiO3 solutions) followed by curing process to produce flood mud geopolymers. In addition, the effect of varying solids/liquid (S/L) and Na2SiO3/NaOH ratios on the compressive strength of flood mud geopolymers were also investigated. The result showed that flood mud can be potentially used as precursor materials for geopolymer formation with favorable strength. Optimum compressive strength (24.6 MPa) of geopolymers based on flood mud was obtained at S/L = 1.25 and Na2SiO3/NaOH = 1.0.