Performance of eco-friendly mortar mixes against aggressive environments

Past research efforts already established geopolymer as an environment-friendly alternative binder system for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and recycled aggregate is also one of the promising alternative for natural aggregates. In this study, an effort was made to produce eco-friendly mortar mixes using geopolymer as binder and recycled fine aggregate (RFA) partially and study the resistance ability of these mortar mixes against the aggressive environments. To form the geopolymer binder, 70% fly ash, 30% ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and alkaline solution comprising of sodium silicate solution and 14M sodium hydroxide solution with a ratio of 1.5 were used. The ratio of alkaline liquid to binder (AL/B) was also considered as 0.4 and 0.6. In order to determine the resistance ability against aggressive environmental conditions, acid attack test, sulphate attack test and rapid chloride permeability test were conducted. Change in mass, change in compressive strength of the specimens after the immersion in acid/sulphate solution for a period of 28, 56, 90 and 120 days has been presented and discussed in this study. Results indicated that the incorporation of RFA leads to the reduction in compressive strength. Even though strength reduction was observed, eco-friendly mortar mixes containing geopolymer as binder and RFA as fine aggregate performed better when it was produced with AL/B ratio of 0.6.