Hajimohammadi, A., Ngo, T., Provis, J.L. orcid.org/0000-0003-3372-8922 et al. (2 more authors) (2019) High strength/density ratio in a syntactic foam made from one-part mix geopolymer and cenospheres. Composites Part B: Engineering, 173. ISSN 1359-8368
Abstract
By designing a composite of one-part mix geopolymer and hollow cenospheres, a commercially viable and environmentally-friendly foam was synthesised with a high strength/density ratio. The composite is made of a dry mix powder of geopolymer source materials, sodium silicate alkali activator and cenospheres, which starts to react when mixed with water. As the geopolymer reacts and gains strength over time, the surface of the cenospheres takes part in the reaction and forms a strong bond with the binding matrix. Synchrotron-based Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy revealed, for the first time, the chemical bonding interaction of the amorphous interfacial layer between the geopolymer and cenospheres. The resulting foam composite gained a strength of 17.5 MPa at a density of 978 kg/m3, which is noticeably higher than that of existing environmentally-friendly lightweight foams made under ambient conditions. The thermal conductivity of the foam was measured to be around 0.28 kW/mK, which is similar to that of foam concrete. This foam produced in this study is found to be lightweight, strong and possess a desirable insulating capacity, while the preparation process of the one-part mix composite is maintained simply by adding water and curing the mixture at an ambient temperature.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Elsevier. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Composites Part B: Engineering. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Lightweight composite; Foam; Geopolymer; High strength; One-part; Cenosphere |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 27 Aug 2019 10:24 |
Last Modified: | 23 May 2020 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.106908 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:150097 |
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Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0