Energy efficient production of geopolymer bricks using industrial waste
A. Chithambar Ganesh, M. Muthukannan, S Aakassh, Prasad, B Subramanaian
Abstract
Bricks are the most predominant masonry units that are consumed globally. Brick manufacturing is energy consuming process and generates large amount of air pollution. The main objective of this paper is to synthesis geopolymer bricks made of Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS), M-Sand and Alkaline solution. The significance of this research work is the designing of geopolymer brick under economic condition with properties equivalent to the Class A first class bricks. The various factors that affect the geopolymerization such as proportions of raw materials, ratio of alkaline solution and molarity of the sodium hydroxide solution are optimized in this research work. Compressive strength and water absorption test were conducted over the brick specimens as per IS 3495 (Part 2): 1992. The results report that GGBS based geopolymer bricks could be designed with better engineering properties. This extends the scope of geopolymerization in the arena of bricks.