The Effect of Chloride Environment on Mechanical Properties Geopolymer Binder with Fly Ash
This study is conducted to determine the effect of five variables on mechanical properties of geopolymer binders. These five variables are chloride environment, NaOH molarity, Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio, fly ash/alkaline activator (FA/AA) ratio and superplasticizer (SP) addition. The mechanical properties considered are compressive strength, porosity and density. Taguchi experimental design method is used to compile the binder composition of geopolymer to achieve the maximum compressive strength. Specimens binder used is a cylinder with 25 mm diameter and 50 mm height. Compressive strength test is performed at 28 days using SNI 03-6825-2002 (Indonesian National Standard) and porosity of the binder is determined using vacuum saturation apparatus similar to that developed by RILEM. The density of the binder is measured using Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV). This study concludes that the chloride environment has a beneficial effect on the compressive strength of the binder. In addition, the FA/AA ratio and NaOH molarity give a significant effect on the compressive strength of geopolymer binders.