Lightweight geopolymer wood composite synthesized from alkali-activated fly ash and metakaolin

This research paper presents the report on the use of wood particle as reinforcement to produce lightweight geopolymer wood composite. in this study,class f fly ash and metakaolin used as alumino-silicate source were activated by alkaline activator and samples were cured at two different temperatures,80°c and 20°c. wood particle,3 to 5 mm in size was added to fly ash/metakaolin based geopolymers for 10 – 60% solid content,and its influence on the compressive strength has been investigated. the microstructure investigation using field emission scanning electron microscopy (fesem) illustrated fly ash; metakaolin and wood particle were embedded in a dense alumino-silicate matrix,though there was some unreacted phase occurred. the compressive strength of lightweight geopolymer matrix without wood particle added samples cured at 80°c temperature was 5.4 mpa which significantly increased 45% when the 10% wood particle were added. however,the addition of wood particle from 20 to 60% has not shown a major improvement in compressive strength. it was found that the density of the lightweight geopolymer composite was decrease relevant to the amount of wood particles addition. it is suggested that wood particle are one of the potential candidates as reinforcement for lightweight geopolymer composite development. © 2016 penerbit utm press. all rights reserved.