A conceptual model of geopolymerisation

© 2006 Sindhunata.The discovery of geopolymers is a breakthrough which provides a cleaner and environmentally-friendlier alternative to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). Since the pioneering days, the understanding of the chemistry, synthesis, and practical application of geopolymers has improved to the extent that commercialisation of geopolymers on a large scale is possible in the near future. However, the fundamental breakthroughs and understanding to date are based on investigations of ‘pure’ raw materials, like metakaolinite. The utilisation of metakaolinite has been useful in a research setting, but will be impractical for widespread application. Therefore, the thesis attempts to do a more detailed study on geopolymers synthesised from waste materials, such as fly ash. The motivation for using fly ash as the main raw material is driven by various factors: (1) it is cheap and available in bulk quantities, (2) it is currently under-utilised, except for its use as an additive in OPC, (3) it has high workability, and (4) it requires less water (or solution) for activation