Concrete is the most widely used construction material all over the world. The quantity of the water plays
an important role in the preparation of concrete. And the demand of concrete is increasing day by day and
cement is used for satisfying the need of development of infrastructure facilities, 1 tonne cement production
generates 1 tonne CO2, which adversely affect the environment. In order to reduce the use of OPC and CO2
generation, the new generation concrete has been developed such as Geopolymer concrete (GPC).
Geopolymers are inorganic polymers and their chemical composition is similar to natural materials.
Geopolymer binders are the alternatives in the development of acid resistant concrete i.e. durability of
concrete. Geopolymer concrete is produced using Fly ash at 100% replacement to cement and binders like
NaOH, Na2SiO3 to ignite the geopolymerisation. Many studies were carried out on properties of geopolymer
concrete. This study focuses on enhancing the strength of geopolymer concrete by using fibers. 60% polyester
and 40% polypropylene fibers are added to geopolymer concrete addition with Fly ash content. The trail
mixes were casted with addition of fibers at different percentages like (0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40, 0.45 and
0.50 %). Then samples were air-cured for 28 days at ambient temperature. Compressive strength test is
conducted on the samples after 3, 7 and 28 days. The optimum value is obtained at 0.40% addition of fibers
when compared to nominal mix(GPC).
Thermo-mechanical and moisture absorption properties of fly ash-based lightweight geopolymer concrete reinforced by polypropylene fibers