Effect of Curing System on Mechanical Property of Slag-Based Geopolymer
Geopolymer has been gradually attracting world attention as a potentially revolutionary material that is one of the ideal substitutes of Portland cement, and fundamental studies on geopolymer are increased rapidly because of its potential commercial applications. However, little work has been done in the field of curing system of geopolymer. In this paper, influence of curing temperature, curing time and curing humidity on the mechanical properties of slag-based geopolymer was studied by using the compressive strength as benchmark parameter. Results have shown that the early age compressive strength of geopolymer increased and the long-term compressive strength decreased at first and then increased as the curing temperature increased, 80°C was the best curing temperature. With prolonging the curing time, it was found that the compressive strength of early age of geopolymer reached the maximum ( 116.3 MPa for 1d, 97.5 MPa for 3d) as the curing time was 12h, and that of 28d geopolymer was 91.3 MPa as the curing time was 10h. It was also found that the compressive strength of geopolymer reduced evidently as the humidity increased.