Characterization and compressive strength of fly ash based-geopolymer paste

Fly ash is a by-product obtained from coal combustion process. Some of the utilization of fly ash is to produce geopolymer products which have high compressive strength, fire, chemical resistance. This paper proposes fly ash from unit 1-7 Suralaya Power Plant Indonesia. The aims of this study are to obtain characterization of fly ash and mechanical properties of geopolymer paste based on variations of the alkali activator ratio. The method was based on previous research and laboratory investigation. XRF and compressive strength were analysed in this study. Alkali activator was obtained from NaOH and Na2SiO3 mixture. The ratio of Na2SiO3 to NaOH was in the range of 0.5-2.5. Geopolymer paste was casted in acrylic cylinders with a diameter of 2 cm and a height of 4 cm. The curing was conducted at room temperature until the day for the compressive strength test at 28 days. The result showed that the fly ash is classified as F class. Increasing the alkali activator ratio influenced the strength. The best composition of geopolymer paste is made with NaOH 8M, and the mass ratio of Na2SiO3 to NaOH is 2.5. This composition produced compressive strength of 98.6 MPa.