Compressive Strength for Geopolymer Mortar

Portland cement is a common building material used globally and has been around for over one hundred years. It is reliable, inexpensive, and its material properties have been thoroughly researched. However, in recent years, the development of new building materials that are more environmentally sustainable has begun to become increasingly important to combat global warming. Research has shown that geopolymers produce less carbon dioxide emission and could possibly be a substitute for portland cement. Thus the scope of this paper is to determine the compressive strength of geopolymer to portland cement using mortar samples. ASTM C 109/C 109M-02 was followed and used as a reference when performing the experiment. Slight variations were made when creating geopolymer mortar samples due to a different chemical structure than that of portland cement. The mortar samples created using portland cement had 18% greater compressive strength than those made of geopolymer. There are multiple types of geopolymers that exist and those may offer similar or greater strength than Portland cement. Though this geopolymer type did not offer the same compressive strength or greater; the results still show that this material has the potential to meet the same strength requirements as Portland-based mortar and concrete.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/durep_lightning/1006/thumbnail.jp