Enhancement of physico-mechanical properties of geopolymer particleboards through the use of seagrass fibers

Two types of geopolymer-bonded boards were produced using initial wetting of lignocellulosic aggregates fol-lowed by dry mixing and hot-pressing. Boards were prepared by incorporating large fractions of lignocellulosic material (up to 50 wt%). Geopolymer particleboards (GP) were produced using wood particles whereas geo-polymer sandwich boards (GSB) were produced from wood particles and seagrass fibers, with the latter allocated in the outer layers. Inclusion of seagrass fibers was found to enhance bending strength and toughness of GSB by up to 20 and 40 % respectively. The bending strength tended to increase with the addition of lignocellulosic aggregates, reaching up to 8.9 N mm-2. Fire resistance of GSB was slightly higher compared to GP. Further investigations such as FT-IR, XRD analysis and visual examination by digital microscopy showed an adequate degree of geopolymerization and mixing of the precursor and alkaline activator, indicating the high effectiveness of the mixing technique.