CURING CONDITIONS IMPACT THE PROPERTIES OF A MODIFIED GEOPOLYMER MORTAR

The present work provides an experimental study for preparing eco-friendly geopolymer mortar based on ground granulated blasted furnace slags with good mechanical properties and durability. This work studied the effect of silica fume reactive powder as a replacement material for slag weight with constant weight ratios of 20% on geopolymer mortar’s mechanical tests. The geopolymer mixtures were prepared with (15M) NaOH solution and a (2.5:1) ratio of (Na2SiO3/NaOH). The samples were cured at ambient conditions at different times of 7 and 28 days and a high temperature of 70°C in a furnace for three hours. It was found from the obtained results that silica fume played a vital role in improving all these properties by enhancing the degree of the silicate ion geopolymerization reaction in the alkaline solution. In addition, the curing process greatly impacted the geopolymers’ features. The properties improve significantly with increasing the curing time and temperature, especially when cured at high temperatures, compared to ambient curing.