Construction and Building Materials xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Engineering properties of alkali activated materials reactive powder

concrete
Yousef R. Alharbi a,⇑, Aref A. Abadel a, Abdulrahman A. Salah a, Ola A. Mayhoub b, Mohamed Kohail b
a
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
b
Structural Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, Egypt

h i g h l i g h t s

RPC based AAM promotes the production of sustainable high strength concrete.

Alkali Activated Metakaoline RPC achieves satisfying results in mechanical strength.

Microwave is the best curing in RPC-AAM due to acceleration in geopolymerization.

Water in AAM weakens the geopolymerization so increase porosity of microstructure.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is considered a high strength concrete that exhibits a high mechanical
Received 19 June 2020 and durability properties. Its development requires a high cement demand. Cement production is not a
Received in revised form 11 October 2020 sustainable eco-friendly process. So there is a need to replace the utilization of cement with partially
Accepted 29 October 2020
or totally environmental friendly Alkali Activated Materials (AAM) binders. The main aim of this study
Available online xxxx
is to evaluate the performance of RPC developed by AAM under different curing conditions. The utilized
AAM in this research are slag and Metakaoine (MK) which are quite available in Middle East. Among the
Keywords:
engineering properties studied were the compressive strength, the elastic modulus, porosity and the
Alkali activated materials
Reactive powder concrete
sorptivity tests. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray (EDS) Spectroscopy and
GGBS Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP) tests were also performed to investigate the concrete microstruc-
Metakaoline ture for the mixes under different curing conditions. It was concluded that microwave curing has shown
Curing regimes a good impact in the performance of AAM mixes with total replacement of cement more than in the AAM
Compressive strength mixes with partial replacement of cement. Steam curing enhances the behaviour of the RPC based cement
Elastic modulus than microwave curing does. Also a loss in strength reached 30% was observedwhen MK was used in RPC
Sorptivity based AAM when compared with slag. MIP measurements proved that the microwave curing leads to
SEM
reduction of capillary pores. Additional water added to improve the workability of RPC based AAM leads
to weaken the geopolymerization process and hence increase the porosity of the microstructure.
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction (RPC) is considered to be one of the innovated types of high

The noticeable increase in greenhouse gases emissions of
Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) have encouraged the demand of
utilizing sustainable cementitious materials. It is found that the
manufacturing of cement is responsible for more than 8% of global
CO2emissions [1]. So, it is crucial to seriously reduce CO2 rising
from the cement industries [2–8]. Reactive Powder Concrete
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: yrharbi@ksu.edu.sa (Y.R. Alharbi), aabadel@ksu.edu.sa
(A.A. Abadel), eng_olamayhoub@yahoo.com (O.A. Mayhoub), m.kohail@eng.asu.
edu.eg (M. Kohail).
strength concrete in the construction industry that is developed
in the 900 s. RPC shows an excellent behavior compared to that of
the ordinary concrete. Despite the popularity of RPC and being
widely known nowadays, its production is still limited in many
countries especially in Middle East due to the lack of existence
for many of its constituent materials, in addition to the high prices
and the unsustainable used materials [9–11].
Additionally, the high cement demand in Reactive Powder Con-
crete (RPC) exhibits many drawbacks on the performance of the
concrete due to shrinkage and micro cracking issues. Thus, alkali
activated materials (AAM) concrete have become the most promis-
ing solution to mitigate the environmental impact of the cement

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.121550
0950-0618/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al., Engineering properties of alkali activated materials reactive powder concrete, Construc-
tion and Building Materials, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.121550
Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al.
manufacturing industry [12–16]. Additionally, AAM is believed to
have superior fire resistance more than the normal concrete which
is vulnerable to elevated temperature during fire exposure [17–
19,64,65]. This can be observed when heat-cured AAM concrete
is exposed to high temperatures, a strength gain is often recorded
[19].
The major ingredients that are essential to develop AAM con-
crete are alkaline activator and the source of aluminosilicate mate-
rials. The alkaline activator is a combination of sodium silicate and
sodium hydroxide where it plays its effective role in the polymer-
ization process [20]. The aluminosilicate materials are considered
the binder source in AAM concrete and it should be formed from
aluminate (Al) and silicate (Si). The most popular aluminosilicate
by-product materials which have been frequently used are slag
[7,21–23,64], fly ash [24–26]. Also silica fume have been used
which is a pure silica source [27]. Moreover, aluminosilicate mate-
rials maybe acquired from natural origin as metakaolin [13,28].
Many factors will influence the selection of the used aluminosili-
cate source like the mechanical performance, the durability, the
availability, and the cost [29]. Metakaolin clay is abundant and
quite available in Middle East [30]. Thus, to encourage the use of
AAM concrete in Middle East, the feasibility of using metakaolin
as an available alternative to aluminosilicate materials have to be
studied.
In conventional RPC, autoclave curing has shown satisfactory
results due toimproving the microstructure to be more dense
[31,32]. Normal water and steam curing have bad impact in AAM
concrete as the geopolymerization reaction will be weakened. This
is owing to the high water absorption during curing which leads
the NaOH solution to be diluted. Accordingly, a limited formation
of alumina-silicate gel would take place [33]. There are various
kinds of curing treatment that have been used in order to promote
the geo-polymerization process like heat, saline water [34], auto-
clave [35], and microwave curing [33,36]. It is observed that heat
treatment obviously enhances the mechanical performance of the
AAM concrete [33,37–41]. This enhancement under heat curing is
revealed to the rapid geo-polymerization of alumino-silicate gel
which leads to an early gain in the compressive strength [33].
Microwave curing has proven to achieve a perfect condition for
polymerization [33,36]. The realization of the interaction of RPC
based AAM and the microwave curing is still being missing in pre-
sent researches.
The engineering properties of RPC based AAM compared to the
conventional RPC under different curing regimes have not been
sufficiently considered in the available literature. Even though
MK has been enormously available in Middle East, not many stud-
ies have been conducted to inspect its performance generally in
RPC and especially its behaviour in alkali activated metakoline con-
crete. The main aim of this study is to investigate the properties of
the RPC based AAS and RPC based AAMK under different curing
regimes.
This paper analyzes the engineering properties of RPC based
AAS (Alkali Activated Slag) and RPC based AAMK (Alkali Activated
Metakaoline) under different curing regimes with partial substitu-
tion of cement by (0, 35, 50 and 100%). The experimental study is
carried out in order to assign their performance in respect to the
mechanical properties (compressive, elastic modulus) and in
respect to durability (sorptivity and absorption). Scanning Electron
Microscope (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray (EDS) Spectroscopy
and Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry tests (MIP) are carried out in
this work in order to confirm the variation in the microstructure
of the designed mixes and hydration products under various curing
conditions.
The full knowledge of the engineering properties of RPC based
AAM will be valuable in future for the design of eco-friendly and
sustainable high strength concrete structures.
2
Construction and Building Materials xxx (xxxx) xxx
2. Experimental program
2.1. Material
Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and metakaoline
(MK) were used as aluminosilicate source materials. GGBFS was
grounded to the micro-size with specific gravity of2.9 g/cm3. The
available used MK has been produced from dehydroxylation of
the clay mineral named kaolinite. OPC used in this research was
(CEM I/42.5 N) in compliance with ASTM C150 [42]. Undensified
silica fume used in this research, in accordance with ASTM C
1240 [43]. It exists in grey powder with particle size 0.1 mm. The
chemical composition sand physical properties of the used binder
materials are shown in Table1and Table 2 respectively.
Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) with molarity equals to 12 M and
sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) was mixed together forming the alkaline
solution. The chemical composition of Sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
and sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) are shown in Table 3 and Table 4
respectively. The ratio of sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) solution to
sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution has taken from previous litera-
ture to be equal to 2.5 by mass. The mass ratio of alkaline solution
to the AAMhas set to be equal to 0.4.
Quartz sand is used as fine aggregates with particle size graded
from 150 mm to 600 mm, specific gravity equals to 2.58 and fineness
modulus of 2.25. Quartz powder having specific gravity 2.65 and
fineness modulus of 2.8 is used as a micro filler to optimize the fill-
ing density of RPC mixture. The particle size of the quartz powder
are graded from 10 mm to 45 mm. Phenol Formaldehyde Sulfanilate
based superplasticizers was used in this study. The superplasticiz-
ers was laboratory prepared and was tested to be efficient for AAM
in order to improve the workability due to the reduction in water
content and the increase in the fine powdered particles [44].
2.2. Mixing and curing conditions
This study consists of 8 different mixtures in addition to the
control RPC mix. Each mix has been cured by several curing condi-
tions. The mortar was prepared by mixing the binder material (alu-
minosilicate source or cement), silica fume, quartz sand and quartz
powder in dry condition for 2 min. The sodium hydroxide solution
and sodium silicate solution were mixed for about 1 h before mix-
ing with aluminosilicate source. The sodium silicate and sodium
hydroxide solution mixture, the additional water and the super-
plastizers were then added to the dry components and mixed for
another4 min. The pastes were poured in steel moulds and then
compacted by vibrating table. After demoulding, the mortar was
cured by different techniques. The considered curing regimes are
air curing, heat curing, and microwave (Mic) curing. The control
RPC was cured by water, steam and autoclave. The RPC mixes with
35% replacement of cement by slag or metakaoline were cured by
steam and autoclave. All the rest AAM mixes were cured by air,
heat, and microwave curing.
2.3. Mix design proportions
The main aim of this study was to determine the engineering
properties of different mixes to produce RPC based AAM using
the locally available materials in Middle East. The designed mixes
of the current study are clearly shown on Table 5.
2.4. Test procedure
2.4.1. Compressive strength
The compressive strength test was executed on cubic concrete
specimens of size 50  50  50 mm according to ASTM C109
Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al. Construction and Building Materials xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 1
The chemical analysis of the MK, GGBFS and Silica Fume.

Element SiO2 Fe2O3 AL2O3 CaO MgO N2O SO3 CL L.O.I.

Cement Content% 20.8 4 4.82 62.6 1.4 0.4 2.54 – 1.9
Metakaoline Content% 53.5 0.86 43.4 0.01 0.17 – 0.02 – 1.9
GGBFS Content% 39.8 1.2 11.2 34.4 7.6 0.2 0.46 0.0125 1.2
Silica Fume Content% 92.26 1.97 0.89 0.49 0.96 0.42 0.33 0.09 2.3

Table 2
The Physical Properties of the Cement, Silica Fume, GGBFS and MK.

Physical property Cement Silica fume GGBFS Metakoline

Specific Gravity 3.15 2.10 2.9 2.4
Specific Surface area (m2/g) 0.360 20 0.46 15
Color Grey Dark Grey Off White Pale Yellow

Table 3 (100 mm diameter and 50 mm height). The test was carried out
The chemical composition of in order to study the effect of different aluminosilicate source
Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH).
and various curing regimes on absorption after immersion, bulk
Element Na2O H2O density, bulk density after immersion, apparent density, and vol-
Content% 38 62 ume of permeable void ratio in RPC based AAM.

2.4.4. Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP)

Table 4
The chemical composition of used Sodium Silicate (S.S).
Element Na2O SiO3
Content% 12.0 31.0
[45]. The test was carried out at ages 3, 7 and 28 days for the
designed concrete specimens.
2.4.2. SEM analysis and EDS analysis
The mechanical behavior and the physical characteristics of
concrete constituents can be well recognized by studying concrete
microstructure. Therefore, scanning electron microscope (SEM)
accompanied by information from EDS can effectively be utilized
to investigate the engineering properties of RPC based cement
and RPC based AAM under different curing conditions through
the concrete microstructure. The samples for SEM analysis and
EDS analysis were taken from the broken particles of the speci-
mens which were tested under compressive strength and then
coated with gold coatings for accurate SEM imaging. The samples
sizes were around 20 mm in diameter and 10 mm high.
2.4.3. Permeable porosity test
The effective permeable porosity of RPC based AAM was
achieved based on the quantum of water absorption and apparent
volume of permeable voids (AVPV) tests in accordance with ASTM
C 642–06 [46]. The test was carried out on cylindrical specimens
To reflect the influence of slag and metakaoline and their per-
centage replacement on the microstructure of RPC based AAM,
H2O mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) test was conducted. The sam-
57.0 ples used for MIP tests were extracted from the centre of the cylin-
drical specimens. The extracted cylinder was with dimensions of
(Ø10 mm  10 mm). Before starting the MIP test, all samples were
dried in an oven at temperature reached 70◦C for 24 h to remove
moisture of the pores and then sealed in closed place. The MIP test
was carried out on mercury intrusion porosimeter capable of gen-
erating pressures. When the pressure is gradually increased, mer-
cury was forced into the pores on the surface of the sample. The
concrete sample reached the required pressure, the machine was
paused to permit the pressure readings to be stabilized before
recording the observed data.
2.4.5. Water sportivity test
The sorptivity test was carried out using cylindrical specimens
with dimensions of 100 mm diameter and 50 mm height according
to ASTM C1585–04 [47]. Sorptivity test was executed to character-
ize the durability through investigating the ability of RPC based
AAM specimens to absorb and transmit water by capillarity under
different curing conditions.
2.4.6. Modulus of elasticity
To determine the modulus of elasticity for all mixes, cylindrical
specimen of 100 mm diameter and 200 mm height were prepared
according to ASTM C469 [48].

Table 5
Mixtures constituents (kg/m3).

Mix Name Cement GGBFS MK Silica Fume Quartz Sand Quartz Powder NAOH solution Soduim Silicates Water Superplasticizers
Control RPC 750 – – 235 885 220 – – 200 45
RPCS-35% 487 263 – 235 885 220 – – 200 45
RPCMK-35% 487 – 263 235 885 220 – – 200 45
AAS-50% 375 375 – 235 885 220 43 107 150 45
AAMK-50% 375 – 375 235 885 220 43 107 150 45
AAS-100% – 750 – 235 885 220 85.7 214.3 150 45
AAMK-100% – – 750 235 885 220 85.7 214.3 150 45
AAS* – 985 – – 885 220 85.7 214.3 150 45
AAMK* – – 985 – 885 220 85.7 214.3 150 45
*
With replacing the silica fume with the used AAM.

3
Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Compressive strength
Compressive strength test was used as an evaluation aspect for
the RPC based AAS and RPC based AAMK mixes as shown in Figs. 1
and 2 respectively. Fig. 1 shows compressive strength of RPC and
RPC based AAS under different curing conditions. Fig. 2 shows
compressive strength of RPC and RPC based AAMK under different
curing conditions. The mixes incorporating MK as an aluminiosili-
cate source were attained lower compressive strength less than
slag-based mixes by values around 30%, 40% and 40% under steam,
heat and microwave curing. The main reason for this obvious loss
in strength when utilizing MK is due to the small calcium amount
in MK than Slag. It was noticed in past literature that presence of
calcium in aluminosilicate source will aid in the polymerization
reaction and hence the formation of Ca-Al-Si gel in its microstruc-
ture. This finding matches with many past literatures [21,22,49].
Moreover, the additional water used to promote workability has
negative effects on compressive strength in AAM concrete [22,50].
Binding N-A-S-H gel aluminium-modified calcium silicate hydrate
(C-A-S-H) gel of AAM is more effective than the cement hydration
gel but the additional water added to improve the workability in
mixture leads to weaken the geopolymerization process. So con-
ventional RPC exhibits high strength than RPC based AAM.
The strength of RPC based AAM is affected obviously by the cur-
ing condition. Normal air curing shows lower values due to the
presence of voids which can no longer transfer the load. It was
noticed from Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 that AAS concrete cured by micro-
wave did not exhibit a high strength gain as conventional RPC
cured by autoclave did. It was observed that high curing tempera-
ture will enhance the strength for all RPC based AAM mixes due to
the increase in the rate of dissolution and polymerization [51,52].
Applying microwave curing for 5 min will improve the strength for
RPC based AAM through encouraging the hydration products to be
120
100
Compressive Strength (MPa)
80
60
40
20
0
RPC RPC-S35%
Percentage of Slag replacement
Fig. 1. Compressive strength of RPC and RPC based AAS under different curing conditions.
Construction and Building Materials xxx (xxxx) xxx
formed more quickly [33]. This is owing to the heat effect which is
equally distributed among specimen when utilizing microwave
curing [33]. It was observed that microwave curing has shown bet-
ter results in the compressive strength in the AAS-100% mix than in
AAS-50% by value reaches 35%. Similarly, an improvement was
noticed in the AAMK-100% mix by 14% more than in the AAMK-
50% mix under microwave curing. This is revealed to the beneficial
and powerful effect of microwave curing in accelerating geopoly-
merization process when AAM are used by high ratio in AAM-
100% mixes. In AAMK-50% mix, it was noticed that the strength
under steam curing has exceeded the strength under microwave
curing by 19%. This is deduced to the effect of the microwave cur-
ing in the cessation of cement hydration due to the dehydration of
the present water. On the other hand, the steam curing has allowed
the development of both the geopolymerization and the cement
hydration to take place and hence a high strength gain has been
achieved. This observation was not noticed in the AAS-50% due
to the higher pozzolanic effect of slag than MK. Replacing the silica
fume with slag in the RPC based AAS did not increase the strength
significantly. This observation clarified the importance of the pres-
ence of fine particles of silica fume in increasing the packing den-
sity in RPC based AAS. On the other side, the replacement of silica
fume by MK in the RPC based AAMK has increased the strength by
30%, 9% and 10% under air, heat and microwave curing respec-
tively. So, the presence of silica fume in the RPC based AAMK did
not achieve the desired packing density as observed in AAS.
3.2. SEM and EDS analysis
In this section, the influence of curing conditions on properties
of RPC-S35%, RPC-MK35%, AAS-100%and AAMK-100% after 28 days,
has been studied by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) of
surface morphology and EDS analysis.
SEM images were captured in order to understand the
microstructure of the RPC-S35% and RPC-35MK% mixes under
fcu 3d
fcu 7d
fcu 28
AAS-50% AAS-100% AAS*
4
Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al.
Compressive Strength (MPa) 120
100
80
60
40
20
0
RPC RPC-MK35% AAMK-50%
Fig. 2. Compressive strength of RPC and RPC based AAMK under different curing conditions.
autoclave curing and AAS-100%and AAMK-100%under microwave
curing. It was observed that all the studied specimens possessed
highly dense matrix due to the inclusion of high percentages of
powdered materials as quartz powder and silica fume particles. It
was observed from Fig. 3(a) that the RPC-S35% specimen posses a
very highly packed and dense matrix due to the formation of C-
S-H gel that will fill the presented capillary pores leading to pore
size refinement. This is attributed to both the particle distribution
and the high pozzolanic reaction of slag in the mix. In Fig. 3(b)
unhydrated particles might appear in RPC-MK35% mix.
In AAS-100% mix, the microstructure is un-compacted compared
to that of RPC-S35% and the formation of tiny pores can be
observed as shown in Fig. 3(c). This is due to the presence of water
which did not take part in the polymerization process. More obvi-
ous microcracks can be detected in AAMK-100% with pores dis-
tributed throughout when compared with AAS-100% as shown in
Fig. 3(d).
EDS analysis was carried out for mixes RPC-S35% and RPC-
MK35% cured by autoclave, and mixes AAS-100% andAAMK-100%
cured by microwave where the results are presented in Figs. 4–7
for better investigation, respectively. In different curing regimes,
the presence of elements Si, Ca and Al enhance the strength and
durability of all mixes. The production of C-S-H and other hydrated
products would significantly improve the engineering properties.
According to Fig. 4, RPC-S35% has the highest Si/Ca ratio, which
confirms its proper strength. In RPC-35MK%, AAS-100%and
AAMK-100% this ratio decreased. It should be noted that by
increasing the amount of Ca, the hydration products are reduced.
3.3. Permeable porosity test
Pores can be classified into three main types: gel pores, capillary
pores, and air voids [53]. Gel and capillary pores are considered
small size pores that ranges from 0.5 nm to 1 mm, therefore they
can be neglected because their effect on strength is much smaller
than that of air voids [53]. Durability of concrete structure is con-
sidered the key parameter which assured that it will prolong its
designed life span without severe deterioration. So durability can
be assigned in terms of its water absorption and permeability
5
Construction and Building Materials xxx (xxxx) xxx
fcu 3d
fcu 7d
fcu 28
AAMK-100% AAMK*
and hence the development of the microstructure can be investi-
gated. This can be represented by the percentage of the permeable
pore space in the RPC based AAS and RPC based AAMK as shown in
Figs. 8 and 9 respectively.
The mixes incorporating slag as an aluminiosilicate source pos-
sess lower volume of permeable voids than MK based mixes by val-
ues around 49%, 42% and 42% under air, heat and microwave
curing. These results coincide with compressive strength results
shown above. It was observed in Fig. 8 that the inclusion of the
35% slag with high pozzolanic activity in the conventional RPC
could have a very good impact on the microstructure to be more
densified. Also, the micro-filling effect of slag has definitely
improved the particles’ packing in the mixtures. Thus, the pore
structure is significantly enhanced resulting in lower pore volume.
The decrease in the volume of permeable pores reduces the move-
ment of water that will consequently minimize the drying shrink-
age strain in the mixture. The same trend can be investigated in
mixes incorporating 35% MK in Fig. 9.
The influence of replacing 50% and 100%GGBS by cement on the
volume of permeable pores of RPC based AAS was showed that the
increasing in the replacement of GGBS in AAM led to a reduction in
the permeability of the mixture. The water content used in cement
hydration may lead to a dilution effect to the alkaline solution [33].
This emphasised the high porosity of the 50% AAM matrix. Also,
thermal and microwave curing caused a reduction in water absorp-
tion of RPC based AAM. This observation has proved the effect of
heat treatment on the geopolymerzation process and hence the
formation of more binding gel which promotes the microstructure
and hence the porosity of the mixture [54].
The replacements of silica fume by MK in the RPC based AAMK
has decreased volume of permeable voids by 13%, 9% and 5% under
air, heat and microwave curing respectively. So, the mixture
designed without silica fume in the AAMK has showed less perme-
ability and hence has achieved a more compacted microstructure.
While incorporation of silica fume in AAS resulted in a decrease in
volume of permeable voids by 30%, 31% and 27% under air, heat
and microwave curing, respectively. This improvement in perme-
ability is due to the filling of the empty voids by fine particles of
silica fume forming a well-graded material.
Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al. Construction and Building Materials xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 3. SEM micrograph of (a) RPC-S35% mix under Autoclave curing, (b) RPC-MK35% mix under Autoclave curing, (c) AAS-100% mix under Microwave curing, (d) AAMK-100%
mix under Microwave curing.

Fig. 4. EDS analysis of RPC-S35% cured by autoclave. Fig. 5. EDS analysis of RPC-MK35% cured by autoclave.

3.4. Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) Pores in concrete can be classified into four categories which are
harmless pores smaller than (20 nm), less harmful pores (20–
The size of pores ranges widely from nanometer to micrometer, 50 nm), harmful pores (50–200 nm), and more harmful pores lar-
which makes the concrete microstructure more complex [55]. ger than (200 nm) [56]. Harmless pores and less harmful pores

6
Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al. Construction and Building Materials xxx (xxxx) xxx

size distribution of microscopic pores in different mixes at 28 day

Fig. 6. EDS analysis of AAS-100%cured by microwave.
ages were plotted as shown in Fig. 10.
It was reported that slag remarkably reduced the porosity and
average pore diameter of concrete under all curing conditions
more than metakaoline.
Particularly, in AAS-100% and AAMK-100% specimens, there
were a large penetration of mercury in the pore range of 20–
50 nm and more than 200 nm. This is due to the presence of water
in the AAM mixture that leads to weaken the geopolymerization
process and hence increase the porosity of the microstructure.
MIP measurements proved that the incorporation of slag leads to
reduction of capillary pores more than metakaoline. Additionally,
it was proved that the microwave curing leads to reduction of cap-
illary pores. This is due to the effect of heat treatment on the
geopolymerzation process which allow the formation of more
binding gel that promotes the microstructure and the porosity of
the mixture. Therefore, the higher activation degree of slag under
microwave curing had caused a finer pore size distribution.
Generally, it was observed that there is a linear correlation
between compressive strength results and the pore size
distribution.

3.5. Water sorpotivity test

Sorptivity is one of most important key parameters that inves-

Fig. 7. EDS analysis of AAMK-100%cured by microwave.
are considered too small to have bad impact on the strength and
permeability of concrete. While, harmful pores and more harmful
pores are considered large pores which can cause bad influence
effects on the strength and permeability of concrete [56]. The pore
tigates the mechanical properties and durability of concrete, hence
the decrease in sorptivity indicates that the matrix posses a highly
packed and compacted microstructure. The rate of water absorp-
tion for RPC based slag is shown in Figs. 11 and 12. Fig. 11 shows
the comparison between water absorption of conventional RPC
and RPC-S35% mixes under different curing conditions. Fig. 6
shows water absorption of all RPC based AAS mixes under different
curing conditions. Also, the rate of water absorption for RPC based
metakoline is shown in Figs. 13 and 14. Fig. 13 shows the compar-
ison between water absorption of conventional RPC and RPC-
MK35% mixes under different curing conditions. Fig. 14 shows
water absorption of all RPC based AAMK mixes under different cur-
ing conditions. It is obvious from Figs. 11 and 13 that RPC-S35% and
RPC-MK35% autoclave cured have a lower water absorption rate

16.00
Volume of permeable pore space%

14.00
12.00
10.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00

RPC RPC-S35% AAS-50% AAS-100% AAS*

Percentage of Slag replacement
Fig. 8. Volume of permeable pores percentages of RPC and RPC based AAS under different curing conditions.

7
Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al. Construction and Building Materials xxx (xxxx) xxx

16.00
Volume of permeable pore
14.00
12.00
10.00
space%

8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00

RPC RPC-MK 35% AAMK-50% AAMK-100% AAMK*

Percentage of MK replacement
Fig. 9. Volume of permeable pores percentages of RPC and RPC based AAMK under different curing conditions.

Fig. 10. Pore Size Distribution.

6.0 than the conventional RPC [57]. This is revealed to the high poz-
zolanic activity of the slag and MK forming extra C-S-H gel in the
5.0 matrix and hence restrains the water movement. In Fig. 12, it’s evi-
dent that the water cement ratio in AAS-50% led to the dilution of
Absorption, l, [mm]

4.0
RPC water the alkaline solution so less geopolymerization process was carried
3.0
RPC Steam out. This observation agrees with the recorded values in the poros-
RPC Auroclave ity test. For hot curing conditions, all the mixes exhibit better per-
2.0 RPC-S35% Steam formance when compared to their correspondents under
RPC-S35% Autoclave conventional curing conditions due to gepolymerization process.
1.0
Microwave curing showed better results than heat curing did. This
0.0 phenomenon is appeared to be contradictory in the AAMK-50%
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 mixes where the microwave curing evaporates all the water in
Time[sec^0.5]
the mixture which prevents the cement hydration process to takes
Fig. 11. Water Absorption of RPC and RPC-S35% mixes under different curing place as shown in Fig. 14. So, the development of less CSH gel was
conditions. achieved.
8
Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al. Construction and Building Materials xxx (xxxx) xxx

6.0

5.0 AAS-50% Air

AAS-50% Steam

Absorption, l, [mm]
4.0 AAS-50% Mic
AAS-100% Air
3.0
AAS-100% Heat
2.0 AAS-100% Mic
AAS* Air
1.0 AAS* Heat
AAS* Mic
0.0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Time[sec^0.5]

Fig. 12. Water Absorption of RPC based AAS mixes under different curing conditions.

6.0

5.0
Absorption, l, [mm]

4.0
RPC water
3.0 RPC Steam
RPC Auroclave
2.0
RPC-MK35% Steam
1.0 RPC-MK35% Autoclave

0.0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Time[sec^0.5]

Fig. 13. Water Absorption of RPC and RPC-MK35% mixes under different curing conditions.

5 AAMK-50% Air
Absorption, l, [mm]

AAMK-50% Steam
4
AAMK-50% Mic
3 AAMK-100% Air
AAMK-100% Heat
2 AAMK-100% Mic
AAMK* Air
1
AAMK* Heat
0 AAMK* Mic
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Time[sec^0.5]

Fig. 14. Water Absorption of RPC based AAMK mixes under different curing conditions.

Sorptivity results for RPC based AAS and AAMK, expressed in 3.6. Modulus of elasticity
terms of initial rate of water absorption (mm/s1/2), are summarized
in Figs. 15 and 16 respectively. It can be seen that a higher sorptiv- Elastic modulus is an important engineering property that spec-
ity values are generally observed in mixes incorporating MK. ifies the concrete stiffness. Past researches observed that AAM

9
Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al. Construction and Building Materials xxx (xxxx) xxx

250

Sorpvity value(*10-4mm/sec0.5) 200

150

100

50

0
Water
Steam

Steam

Steam
Air

Air

Air
Mic

Mic

Mic
Autoclave

Autoclave

Heat

Heat
RPC RPC-S35% AAS-50% AAS-100% AAS*
Fig. 15. Sorptivity values of RPC and RPC based AAS under different curing conditions.

Fig. 16. Sorptivity values of RPC and RPC based AAMK under different curing conditions.

concrete has shown a decrease in elastic modulus values when
compared by the OPC concrete of the same compressive strength
[58–61]. Thermally cured AAM concrete has recorded lower elastic
modulus than thermally cured OPC concrete [62,63]. Figs. 17 and
18 show the experimental and the predicted modulus of elasticity
for the slag and MK based mixes respectively.
Previous researchers proposed many equations in order to pre-
dict the modulus of elasticity of AAM concrete.
proposed Eq. (1) that was based on the experimental results of
heat cured fly ash based geopolymer concrete.
pffiffiffiffiffi
Ec ¼ 2707 f c þ 5300
Additionally, P. Nath [60] proposed another equation for
geopolymer concrete by analysing the data of the test results and
concluded the folloeing equation:
pffiffiffiffi
Ec ¼ 3510 f c ð2Þ
By comparing the modulus of elasticity values of experimental
test of the studied mixes and the predicated values from the equa-
tion executed by Hardjito et al. [59], and that executed by P. Nath
[60], it was seen that no significant difference is observed due to
variation of the mixture proportions. The equations from literature
have good agreement with the experimental results, indicating
ð1Þ
that properties of AAM –RPC resembles that of conventional AAM.
10
Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al. Construction and Building Materials xxx (xxxx) xxx

Experimental Chord modulus(Gpa) Equation of Hardjito et al.2005 Equationof Nath2016

60
Elastic Modulus (GPa)

50

40

30

20

10

RPC RPC-S35% AAS-50% AAS-100% AAS*

Percentage of SLAG replacement
Fig. 17. Experimental and predicted elastic modulus of RPC and RPC based AAS mixesunder different curing conditions.

Experimental Chord modulus(Gpa) Equation of Hardjito et al.2005 Equationof Nath2016

60
Elastic Modulus (GPa)

50

40

30

20

10

Fig. 18. Experimental and predicted elastic modulus of RPC and RPC based AAMK mixes under different curing conditions.

4. Conclusions strength when compared to the corresponding steam

cured mix.
This paper studied the behaviour of the RPC based AAS and RPC 4- Well-graded microstructure is achieved when silica fume is
based AAMK cured with different techniques. From the results of incorporated in AAS resulted in a decrease in volume of per-
the experiments executed in this research, the following conclu- meable voids. While, adding silica fume in AAMK mixes
sions can be achieved: resulted in less compacted matrix and hence high permeable
voids as it has been proved by the MIP test.
1- Utilizing MK in RPC based AAM has achieved satisfying 5- The binding Ca-Al-Si gel of AAM is more effective than the
results in compressive strength but not as high as the results cement hydration gel but the additional water added to
that obtained when utilizing slag. improve the workability in mixture leads to weaken the
2- Microwave curing is considered a better choice than conven- geopolymerization process and hence increase the porosity
tional curing in RPC based AAM due to the acceleration in of the microstructure and cause a decrease in strength which
the geopolymerization processand the formation of Ca-Al- comply with the results observed from the SEM micrographs
Si gel in its microstructure. and EDX analysis.
3- The microwave curing leads to the cessation of 6- The modulus of elasticity of RPC based AAM calculated using
cement hydration due to the dehydration of the present equations mentioned in past literatures was slightly higher
water in AAMK-50% mix resulting in a reduction in than the experimental modulus of elasticity.

11
Y.R. Alharbi, A.A. Abadel, A.A. Salah et al.
5. Future recommendations
1. More experimental work can be carried to find out an optimized
mix design to overcome the inclusion of the additional water
for workability issues.
2. Studies can then be carried out for upgrading building codes to
boost the widespread use of sustainable AAM.
3. There is an urgent demand for researchers to spotlight on the
behaviour of high strength reinforced AAM concrete structural
elements such as beams, columns, and slabs.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Yousef R. Alharbi: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investi-
gation, Resources, Supervision, Writing - original draft. Aref A.
Abadel: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Resources, Writing -
review & editing. Abdulrahman A. Salah: Methodology, Data cura-
tion, Writing - review & editing. Ola A. Mayhoub: Conceptualiza-
tion, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Data curation,
Writing - original draft, Resources. Mohamed Kohail: Conceptual-
ization, Validation, Data curation, Visualization, Supervision, Writ-
ing - review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scien-
tific Research at King Saud University for funding this work
through research group No (RG- 1441-348).
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