The Influence of Si:Al and Na:Al on the Physical and Microstructure Characters of Geopolymers Based on Metakaolin

TLDR: In this article, the physicico-mechanical and microstructure properties of geopolymers synthesized from metakaolin activated with sodium silicate solution were investigated using X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and the micro-structure of the paste and the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the aggregate and the matrix of a geopolymer were studied by using transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and scanning Electron microscope (SEM).

Abstract: A research has been conducted to investigate the physico-mechanical and microstructure properties of geopolymers synthesised from metakaolin activated with sodium silicate solution. A wide range of physical and mechanical properties of geopolymers were studied such as bulk density, porosity, Vickers hardness, compressive strength, thermal expansion and thermal conductivity. It was found that these properties were directly related to geopolymers process variables such as Si:Al, Na:Al, Na2O:H2O, time and curing temperature. The structure of the resulting geopolymers was studied by using X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and the microstructure of geopolymers paste and the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the aggregate and the matrix of geopolymer were studied by using Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results gave a new insight into the composition-microstructure-property relationship of geopolymers and paving the way to the production of geopolymers with improved performance in a variety of applications.