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The potential application of alkali-activated material (AAM) as an alternative binder in concrete to reduce the environmental impact of cement production has now been established. However, as the production and availability of the primarily utilized waste materials, such as fly Ash and blast furnace slag, decrease, it is necessary to identify alternative materials. One such material is clay, which contains aluminosilicates and is abundantly available across the world. However, the reactivity of untreated low-grade clay can be low. Calcination can be used to activate clay, but this can consume significant energy. To address this issue, this paper reports the investigation of two calcination methodologies, utilizing low-temperature and high-temperature regimes of different durations, namely 24 h heating at 120 °C and 5 h at 750 °C and, and the results are compared with those of the mechanical performance of the AAM produced with untreated low-grade clay. The investigation used two alkali dosages, 10% and 15%, with an alkali modulus varying from 1.0 to 1.75. An increase in strength was observed with calcination of the clay at both 120 and 750 °C compared to untreated clay. Specimens with a dosage of 10% showed enhanced performance compared to those with 15%, with Alkali Modulus (AM) of 1.0 giving the optimal strength at 28 days for both dosages. The strengths achieved were in the range 10 to 20 MPa, suitable for use as concrete masonry brick. The conversion of Al (IV) is identified as the primary factor for the observed increase in strength.

Quarry aggregate reserves are depleting rapidly within Australia and the rest of the world due to an increasing demand for aggregates driven by expansion in construction. The annual production of premix concrete in Australia is approximately 30 million cubic meters, while 3–5% of concrete delivered to site remains unused and is disposed of in landfill or crushing plants. The production of coarse aggregates using this waste concrete is potentially a sustainable approach to reduce environmental and economic impact. A testing program has been conducted to investigate mechanical performance and permeation characteristics of concrete produced using a novel manufactured coarse aggregate recycled directly from fresh premix concrete. The recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) concrete satisfied the specified 28-day design strength of 25 MPa and 40 MPa at 28 days and a mean compressive strength of 60 MPa at 90 days. Aggregate grading was observed to determine strength development, while low water absorption, low drying shrinkage, and higher packing density indicate that the RCA concrete is a high-quality material with a dense pore structure. The rough fracture surface of the aggregate increased the bond between C-S-H gel matrix and RCA at the interfacial transition zone. Furthermore, a good correlation was observed between compressive strength and all other mechanical properties displayed by the quarried aggregate concrete. The application of design equations as stated in Australian standards were observed to provide a conservative design for RCA concrete structures based on the mechanical properties.

This study reports the effect of heat curing at 120 °C on the geopolymeric reaction and strength evolution in brown coal fly ash based geopolymer mortar and concrete. Moreover, an examination of this temperature profile of large size geopolymer concrete specimens is also reported. The specimen temperature and size were observed to influence the conversion from the glassy (amorphous) phases to the crystalline phases and the microstructure development of the geopolymer. The temperature profile could be divided into three principal stages which correlated well with the proposed reaction mechanism for class F fly ash geopolymers. The geopolymerisation progressed more rapidly for the mortar specimens than the concrete specimens with 12 to 14 h providing an optimum curing time for the 50 mm mortar cubes and 24 h being the optimum time for the 100 mm concrete cubes. The 50 mm and 100 mm concrete specimens’ compressive strengths in excess of 30 MPa could be obtained at 7 days. The structural integrity was not achieved at the center of 200 mm and 300 mm concrete specimens following 24 h curing at 120 °C. Hence, the optimal curing time required to achieve the best compressive strength for brown coal geopolymer was identified as being dependent on the specimen size.