Effect of Curing Temperature and Curing Time on the Strength Development of Fly Ash-based Geopolymers Concrete

Abstract

Geopolymers concrete provides a sustainable alternative to the higher energy-intensive Portland cement concrete. However, to date, there is no standard mix design procedure for geopolymers concrete. An effective geopolymer concrete mix design procedure should include criteria for selecting the parameters that have a significant impact on its compressive strength, such as the alkaline activator solution content, binder content (e.g., fly ash), aggregate content, curing temperature, and curing duration. This study aims to investigate the effect of curing temperature and curing duration on the compressive strength and Pulse velocity of fly ash-based geopolymers concrete to build a mix design procedure that considers these parameters. Besides, an experimental investigation was carried out, as well as an extensive survey of related literature. This study showed that curing period and temperature have a significant effect on geopolymers' concrete compressive strength. Moreover, a curing activity index could be utilized to integrate the curing influence into the mix design procedure, which has the objective of scaling down the design required strength to arrive at the portion of the required design compressive strength relegated to a mix cured at ambient temperature.