Effect of Fly Ash Calcination in Geopolymer Synthesis

Geopolymer, a largely amorphous class of inorganic polymer consisting of aluminosilicate repeat units, is an environmentally attractive engineering material due to its ability to consume aluminosilicate waste as raw materials. This work studies the effect of the calcination temperature of a coal fly ash generated by a low -efficiency boiler on the mechanical strength of geopolymer mortar synthesized using a mixture of the fly ash, potassium hydroxide as the alkali activator, and locally available sand as the filler aggregate. The calcination temperature is varied between 500-700 degrees C, with a calcination period of 2 hours in an electric furnace. Two sand samples with different particle size distributions are used. The key response variable is the compressive strength at room temperature, measured after curing at 80 degrees C for 7 and 14 days. Uncalcined ash, with a carbon content of approximately 31.0%, is not amenable for geopolymer synthesis. Analysis of experimental data using the ANOVA method for general factorial design identifies significant main effects for all three experimental variables. Two-way interactions are significant, except that between sand type and curing period. Higher calcination temperature significantly improves the strength of the mortar. However, the strength of the obtained geopolymer mortars are still significantly lower than that of ordinary Portland cement mortar.