FLEXURAL BEHAVIOUR OF GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE BEAMS CURED UNDER AMBIENT TEMPERATURE

Portland cement is widely used all over the world and the consumption is next to the consumption of water. The manufacturing of Portland cement emits large quantity of CO2 which causes pollution to the environment and makes serious impact on global warming. To reduce the emission of CO2 by way of replacing the cement concrete, an alternative concrete called Geopolymer Concrete (GPC) was introduced in the year 1980. GPC is a new class of concrete based on an inorganic alumino – silicate binder system compared to the hydrated calcium silicate binder system of Portland cement concrete. To produce the Geopolymer Concrete (GPC) an alkali – activator solution called alkaline liquid consists of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium silicate (Na2Sio3) is used as a catalyst to extract the silicon (Si) and Aluminium (Al) from the source material of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) and Fly Ash (FA) which produce a binder like gel by polymerization which is similar to the gel of Portland cement concrete by hydration. NaOH in pellet form was dissolved in potable water and mixed with Na2 Sio3 in liquid form to prepare the alkaline solution. Four beams of M 60 grade of size 125 x 250 x 3200 mm were cast and tested for flexure. Out of these four beams, two beams are control beams with Portland cement concrete and the remaining two are GPC beams. The GPC beams were ambient cured and the control beams by water curing. Under reinforced sections were designed for both GPC and control beams. Cubes were cast to find out the compressive strength. The flexural behavior for all the four beams was compared. Flexural strength and compressive strength were found out.