Experimental Investigation on Geopolymer Masonry Units

Masonry is the oldest method of construction and is composed of masonry units and mortar. The traditional masonry units like burnt bricks and conventional cement blocks are not considered as sustainable. Burnt brick consumes fossil fuel and top fertile soil. Hence there is a need to develop and use alternatives to traditional masonry units. Geopolymer technology is one among many alternatives in which complete elimination of cement is achieved without compromising the strength and durability. This technique makes use of supplementary cementitious materials like fly ash, Ground granulated blast furnace slag, etc. as binders [1]. The objective of this project is to study the effect of fly ash and alccofine on the physical and mechanical properties of geopolymer masonry bricks at different replacement levels of fly ash with 0, 10, 20, 30, 40% of alccofine and comparing the optimum results with fly ash brick [2, 3]. The polymerization is done with the help of alkaline activators. Sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide are the alkaline activators used. It is proposed to study the properties such as compressive strength, water absorption, density etc. and these properties are compared with that of that of fly ash bricks [4, 5].