The Effect of Different Modifying Methods on Physical, Mechanical and Thermal Performance of Cellular Geopolymers as Thermal Insulation Materials for Building Structures

Geopolymers represent a new class of inorganic materials that have great potential for practical application due to the properties of used raw materials, as well as the peculiarities of the cementitious matrix structure formed during the geopolymerization process. Cellular geopolymer specimens were produced in this study using class F fly ash product, which is characterized by low reactivity during geopolymerization. Several standard methods, as well as microstructural studies were applied to evaluate the effect of the following factors on the physical-mechanical and thermophysical characteristics of cellular geopolymers: the use of various mineral modifying components for synthesis of geopolymer systems; high-temperature treatment; the introduction method of alkaline activator. It was observed that “ageing” an aqueous alkali solution for 24 h before mixing with fly ash and foam agent was able to provide a boost of compressive strength of cellular geopolymer specimens up to about 2.5 times, while decreasing the average density by about 28% for all experimental mixes, except for PC-modified mixes. Additionally, high-temperature treatment at 600 °C enables an enhanced strengthening effect of pore structure in cellular geopolymer matrix up to 1.5 times. This phenomenon is especially pronounced for the mixes with 24 h “aged” alkaline solution with exception for PC-modified mixes; for those, high-temperature treatment at 600 °C leads to strength decrease up to 40%. The introduction method of alkaline activator and high-temperature treatment showed a controversial effect on thermal conductivity coefficient depending on the mineral modifying component used for the synthesis of cellular geopolymers. The proposed method for calculation of total porosity of cellular structure of geopolymers as a polycomponent material demonstrated a high degree of correlation with the R2 value of at least 0.96 between the average density and the calculated total porosity. However, a low degree of correlation with R2 not exceeding 0.29 was observed for the measured nanoporosity, regardless of the introduction method of alkaline activator and high-temperature treatment