Investigation of Geo-Polymer Concrete Incorporating Industrial Waste: Effect of Sodium Hydroxide Molarity under Open-Air Curing

Akshay Kumar Jain*
Oriental College of Technology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Periodicity:October - December'2025

Abstract

Currently, the increase in population and industrial growth generates large amounts of waste, creating disposal problems and severe environmental hazards. The cement industry is one of the important sectors that liberates greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The consumption of waste products eradicates the disposal issues, and also it diminishes the emission of greenhouse gases to the environment. This is an important reason for the introduction of cement-free geopolymer concrete. This paper was invented to understand the suitability of geopolymer concrete cured at ambient temperature in the construction industry and the effect of molarity on strength properties. In total, five types of geopolymer concrete mixes were prepared by altering the molarities of sodium hydroxide, like 4M, 6M, 8M, 10M, and 12M. The compressive strengths (1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 days), splitting tensile strengths (7, 14, and 28 days), and flexural strengths at 28 days were studied for the aforementioned molarities. Generally, the rise in molarity increases the compressive strength. The ultimate strength was achieved up to 57.53 MPa at 28 days for 8M geopolymer concrete. For the validation of compressive strength predicted by the destructive test (DT), the non-destructive tests (NDT) (rebound hammer and ultrasonic pulse velocity) were carried out at a resembled age of curing. Regression analysis is also done between compressive strength established by DT and NDT results. The arrived linear regression equations were well correlated with the experimental results, and the coefficient (R²) values varied from 0.8970 to 0.9967.

Keywords

Greenhouse Emission, Sustainable Development, Waste Utilization, Geopolymer Concrete, Molarity, Alkaline Solution.

How to Cite this Article?

Jain, A. K. (2025). Investigation of Geo-Polymer Concrete Incorporating Industrial Waste: Effect of Sodium Hydroxide Molarity under Open-Air Curing. i-manager’s Journal on Structural Engineering, 14(3), 26-39.

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