Mechanical properties of normal and steel fibre-reinforced lightweight geopolymer concrete under chemical attack

This thesis has been conducted to investigate the effect of using artificial fly ash aggregate, and steel fiber, on the properties of Geopolymer concrete under chemical attack. To reduce energy consumption and provide a positive environmental impact, the cold-bonded process was used to manufacture artificial aggregate. At first, the production of an aggregate of Fly Ash and Slag was conducted by pelletizing a dry powder of two types: type 1, and type 2, after that, artificial fly ash aggregate, and/or natural coarse aggregate in the mixes were used with sodium hydroxide and Alkali to produce 9 mixtures of geopolymer concrete (the first three mixes with no steel fiber, the second three mixes with 0.5% steel fiber, and the last three mixes with 1% steel fiber). To achieve the objectives of the present study, the strength properties were examined through compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength with and without acid and sulfate chemical attacks. Test results revealed that using steel fiber crucially enhanced the structural performance of lightweight geopolymer concrete. The lightweight geopolymer concrete incorporated fly ash, and Slag aggregate can be produced with compressive strength as high as 40.50 MPa and a Splitting tensile strength as high as 2.66 MPa. As a result, it was observed that the incorporation of 0.5 and 1% steel fiber volume fraction were the most significant parameters that caused a remarkable improvement in the mechanical properties of lightweight geopolymer concrete.