Arabian Journal of Geosciences (2020) 13:963

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-05954-y

GMGDA 2019

Study on soil mechanics and frost resistance of fly

ash–metakaolin geopolymer
Zhiqiang Xing 1 & Dongpo He 1 & Hongguang Wang 1 & Zhifeng Ye 2 & Shoucheng Yang 3

Received: 3 July 2020 / Accepted: 2 September 2020

# Saudi Society for Geosciences 2020

Abstract
Aiming at the economic and environmental protection of fly-ash-metakaolin-based polymer concrete, the frost resistance of fly-
ash-metakaolin-based polymer concrete is studied. Concrete polymers were prepared by mixing 1:1 mass ratio fly ash with
metakaolin and using potassium silicate excitation. According to the content of fly ash and metakaolin, water-binder ratio, sand
ratio, and bone cement ratio, the soil-cement concrete blocks were divided into 7 groups. The effects of saturation volume
absorption of vacuum water, mass loss of freeze-thaw cycle, and relative dynamic elastic modulus on the frost resistance of
concrete specimens were tested. The results show that after curing for 3 days and 7 days, the compressive strength of soil polymer
concrete increases by 93.7% and 134.4% respectively. The increase of metakaolin content of fly ash can effectively improve the
structural compactness of soil-polymer concrete. When the water-cement ratio is 0.4%, the sand ratio is 0.25–0.30%, and the
bone cement ratio is 3.5%, the compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of geopolymer concrete are better. The
incorporation of fly ash and metakaolin can effectively reduce the vacuum saturation volume absorption rate and the freezing-
thawing water content of geopolymer concrete.

Keywords Metakaolin . Geopolymer soil . Concrete . Structural compactness . Antifreeze performance

Introduction (Kulovaná et al. 2016). It is an urgent problem for the con-

With the continuous expansion of construction scale world-
wide, cement demand is increasing year by year. Cement pro-
duction consumes a lot of energy and releases a lot of green-
house gases (Duran et al. 2018; Liu et al. 2019; Wang et al.
2019). According to statistics, the production of 1-ton cement
will release about 1-ton CO; the global cement industry emits
1.35 billion tons of greenhouse gases annually, accounting for
7% of the total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions
This article is part of the Topical Collection on Geological Modeling and
Geospatial Data Analysis
* Dongpo He
Hdp@nefu.edu.cn
1
School of Civil Engineering, Northeast Forestry University,
Harbin 150040, China
2
Heilongjiang Province Highway Undertaking Development Center,
Harbin 150001, China
3
Harbin Engineering Quality Consulting Center, Harbin 150010,
China
struction industry to find a green and environmentally friendly
cement substitute to reduce the environmental pollution
caused by cement production.
Durability of concrete is an important factor determining its
service life (Bao et al. 2020; Ren et al. 2016). Because most of
China is in the north temperate zone, concrete structures are
prone to freeze-thaw damage in winter cold weather. Adding
some mineral admixtures can effectively improve the strength
and frost resistance of concrete (Wu et al. 2017). To this end,
scholars in related fields have carried out a series of experi-
ments and obtained some results. In recent years, the replace-
ment of silica fume with metakaolin in concrete has become a
research hotspot (El-Din et al. 2017; Daghash et al. 2016).
Reinmann and Templer (2016) studied metakaolin and its
application in high-performance concrete. It was found that
metakaolin can improve the impermeability and corrosion
resistance of concrete. Selvam et al. (2016) studied the effect
of metakaolin on the durability of concrete. It was found that
the alkali-aggregate reaction and freeze-thaw resistance of
concrete with metakaolin fine powder were better than that
of reference concrete (He et al. 2016). Xiao studied the effect
of silica fume and metakaolin on the freeze-thaw resistance of
 963 Page 2 of 10 Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:963

concrete (Xiao et al. 2017; Pranita et al. 2010). It was found Table 1 Main chemical constituents of fly ash and metakaolin (%)
that the addition of silica fume and metakaolin could effec- Main chemical constituents Fly ash Metakaolin
tively improve the freeze-thaw resistance of concrete. Xue
et al. (2017) carried out the freeze-thaw resistance test of con- SiO2 51.35 45.3
crete mixed with polyacrylonitrile fibers and metakaolin. It Al2O3 44.24 41.2
was found that the freeze-thaw resistance of concrete could CaO 0.13 3.77
be greatly improved by adding polyacrylonitrile fibers and Fe2O3 0.98 3.18
metakaolin. He et al. (2017) studied the fractal characteristics TiO2 0.9 1.62
of strength and microstructure of low water-binder ratio SO3 0 0.75
metakaolin concrete, and found that metakaolin could effec- MgO 0.48 0.44
tively improve the mechanical properties of concrete K2O 0.08 0.38
(Ghoddousi and Saadabadi 2017). P2O5 0.45 0.36
According to the current domestic research situation, most SrO 0 0.11
of the experiments are concentrated on the single-doped Na2O 0.16 0.09
metakaolin, and the study on the mixing of metakaolin and ZrO2 0 0.08
other mineral admixtures is less. Based on this, the mechanics MnO 0.01 0.05
and frost resistance of fly ash–metakaolin geopolymer con- Burning loss 0.72 2.4
crete are studied, and the influence of fly ash on the mechanics
of alkali-activated metakaolin geopolymer concrete is ex-
plored. The frost resistance of geopolymer concrete is im-
proved by using fly ash in order to provide support for the
development of geopolymer materials. compressive and splitting strength tests of geopolymer soil
concrete are carried out (Mishra and Behera 2010). Three
water-binder ratios (0.35, 0.4, 0.45), three sand ratios (0.25,
Materials and methods 0.30, 0.35), and three bone-binder ratios (3, 3.5, 4) are used to
prepare geopolymer soil concrete. Table 2 gives the grouping
Materials of geopolymer soil concrete specimens and their formulations.
Among them, GC-1-GC-7 is the grouping of geopolymer soil
The raw materials for preparing fly-ash-metakaolin-based concrete specimens (6 specimens in each group).
geopolymer concrete include the following (Li and Zhang Water-binder ratio = mass of water glass solvent/(mass of
2016): low calcium fly ash (secondary ash, taken from water glass solute + mass of fly ash + mass of metakaolin);
Guangzhou Huangpu Power Plant); metakaolin (taken from sand ratio = mass of sand/(mass of sand + mass of stone);
Shanxi Jinkun Heng Industry Co., Ltd., and the calcination bone-binder ratio = (mass of sand + mass of stone)/(mass of
temperature is 900 °C); industrial potassium silicate solution water glass solute + mass of fly ash + mass of metakaolin).
(modulus is 2.4, the concentration is 40%), flake potassium
hydroxide (purity ≥ 95%) and local river sand (after screening,
particle size is less than 2 mm), gravel (after cleaning and
screening, particle size is 5–20 mm). The main chemical com- 100
position and particle size distribution of low calcium fly ash
Passing size cumulative volume/%

90
and metakaolin are shown in Table 1 and Fig. 1.
As can be seen from Fig. 1, the particle size distribution of 80 Metakaolin

metakaolin is narrow (0.1–27.5 μm) and small (d50 = 4.8 μm). 70 Fly ash

Fly ash has a wide range of particle size distribution (0.1– 60

207.5 μm) and a large particle size (d50 = 17.3 μm).
50

40
Mix ratio of geopolymer soil concrete
30

When making geopolymer soil concrete specimens, the mass 20

ratio of fly ash and metakaolin is 1:1 (Guo 2018; Zhang et al.
10
2016); the concentration of potassium sodium silicate solution
is 40%, and the modulus is 2.4 (obtained by mixing a certain 0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240
amount of flake potassium hydroxide and water in industrial Particle size / µm

potassium silicate solution) (Ni et al. 2016). Firstly, the Fig. 1 Diameter distribution curves of metakaolin and fly ash
Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:963 Page 3 of 10 963

Table 2 Mix ratio of geopolymer

concrete Raw material GC-1 GC-2 GC-3 GC-4 GC-5 GC-6 GC-7

Fly ash (kg/m3) 186 197 177 186 186 169 207
Metakaolin (kg/m3) 186 197 177 186 186 169 207
Potassium sodium silicate (kg/m3) 219 193 244 219 219 199 244
KOH (kg/m3) 61 54 68 61 61 55 68
Water (kg/m3) 63 56 70 63 63 57 70
Sand (kg/m3) 535 540 527 446 624 555 511
Gravel (kg/m3) 1249 1262 1236 1338 1160 1295 1192
Water-binder ratio/% 0.4 0.35 0.45 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4
Sand rate/% 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.25 0.35 0.3 0.3
Bone glue ratio/% 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 4 3
Compressive strength/Mpa 56 32 35 54 36 32 43

Test block making and maintenance
The cubic geopolymer soil concrete block with 150-mm edge
length is used in the test. The solid powder of fly ash,
metakaolin, and potassium sodium silicate solution are firstly
poured into the mixer for about 20 s; then, sand and stone are
poured into the mixer for about 140 s. After mixing, the
geopolymer concrete is poured into the plastic mold, and then,
the concrete is vibrated and compacted with the vibrating rod.
Finally, the surface is smoothed; that is to say, the geopolymer
concrete specimen is made. The data of this paper is obtained
from Earth data by NASA database (http://www.360doc.com/
content/19/0510/07/48503472_ 834712717.shtml).
The setting and hardening speed of geopolymer soil con-
crete is fast, and it can reach a higher strength in a shorter time
(Zarauskas et al. 2017). Therefore, the specimens are watered
and maintained in natural environment for 7 days, and the
mechanical properties of the specimens are tested after they
are stationary indoors for 1 day including compressive and
splitting tensile strength tests.
Mechanics test method
Testing of composition and structure of geopolymer soil The
geopolymer is maintained for 7 days and is kept indoors for 1
day, then reserved after sampling and drying. The pore struc-
ture of the hardened body is tested by GT-60 mercury intru-
sion tester (driving pressure: 0.1-224.5 MPa) (Nili et al. 2016).
The phase composition of the sample is analyzed by ARL
XTRA X-ray diffractometer (Cu-Kα ray, angle: 5-80°, scan-
ning speed: 4°/min). The micro-morphology of the sample is
observed and analyzed by Quanta 200 environmental scan-
ning electron microscope (accelerating voltage: 15 kV).
According to the Standard for Testing Methods of
Mechanical Properties of Ordinary Concrete, the mechanical
properties of geopolymer soil concrete at room temperature
are tested, and its compressive and splitting tensile strength are
tested (Zou and Wu 2017; Leng et al. 2015). Compressive
strength test is carried out on electro-hydraulic servo pressure
testing machine controlled by YAW-3000 micro-computer,
and splitting tensile strength test is carried out on electro-
hydraulic servo universal testing machine with WA-B screen
display. In the process of compressive strength test, continu-
ous uniform loading is adopted. According to the prediction of
the compressive strength of the test block, the loading speed of
0.6 MPa/s is adopted in the compressive strength test. The
loading speed of splitting tensile strength test is 1/10 of that
of compressive strength test.
Test method for frost resistance
Testing of vacuum saturated volume absorption rate
of geopolymer soil concrete
The freeze-thaw cycle system adopted in the test of vacu-
um saturated volume liquid absorption rate of geopolymer
soil concrete is to freeze for 12 h in a low temperature box
at − 20 °C, then thaw for 12 h at 20 °C. After each freeze-
thaw cycle, the unit area spalling amount of geopolymer
soil concrete is tested. When the cumulative amount ex-
ceeds 1.0 kg/m2, it is considered that the geopolymer soil
concrete can reach the freeze-resistant limit (Wu et al.
2018). The standard cured geopolymer soil concrete spec-
imens are dried to constant weight m0, cooled to room
temperature and saturated for 24 h in a vacuum saturator
with a vacuum of 6.7 kPa. The specimens are taken out and
the surface water is erased. The mass mΦ of the specimens
is tested. Then, the volume V0 of the specimens is mea-
sured by drainage method and the vacuum saturated vol-
ume liquid absorption rate of geopolymer soil concrete is
determined according to the vacuum saturated volume. The
following formula is calculated:
ρ ¼ ðmΦ −m0 Þ=V 0 ð1Þ
 963 Page 4 of 10 Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:963

Mass loss analysis of geopolymer soil concrete in freeze-thaw
cycle
During the freeze-thaw cycle of geopolymer soil concrete,
mass loss records are made every 100 times (Wang and
Zhang 2017). When the mass loss rate exceeds 5%, it is con-
sidered that the geopolymer soil concrete specimens have
been destroyed (Sarsembayeva and Collins 2017). The mass
loss rate of geopolymer soil concrete specimens is calculated
according to formula (2):


1 3 m0i −mni
ηn ¼ ∑ ð2Þ
3 i¼1 m0i
In the formula, ηn is the mass loss rate (%) of geopolymer
soil concrete specimens after n freeze-thaw cycles, m0i is the
mass (g) of the ith geopolymer soil concrete specimens before
freeze-thaw cycles, and m ni is the mass (g) of the ith
geopolymer soil concrete specimens after n freeze-thaw cycles.
Analysis of relative dynamic elastic modulus of geopolymer
soil concrete under freeze-thaw cycle
ash content on the compressive strength of geopolymer is
shown in Fig, 2.
From Fig. 2, it can be seen that the compressive strength of
geopolymer soil at different curing ages increases gradually
with the increase of fly ash content, and the extension of curing
age is beneficial to the improvement of the compressive
strength of geopolymer. The compressive strength of
geopolymer soil concrete specimen group (gc-6) with the low-
est content of metakaolin and fly ash is 25.5 Mpa and 29 mpa
respectively on the 3rd and 7th day of curing period. When the
content of metakaolin and fly ash increases gradually, the com-
pressive strength of geopolymer concrete also increases gradu-
ally. The compressive strength of geopolymer soil concrete
specimen group (gc-7) with the highest content of metakaolin
and fly ash is 46.6 MPa and 68 MPa respectively on the 3rd and
7th day of curing period. Compared with gc-6 group, the com-
pressive strength of the third and seventh day of the curing
period increased by 93.7% and 134.4% respectively. It can be
seen that under the same alkali excitation condition, fly ash and
metakaolin–based geopolymer soils are mixed into concrete,
and the alkali excitation products are beneficial to the improve-
ment of compressive strength of concrete.

During the freeze-thaw cycle of geopolymer soil concrete, the

dynamic elastic modulus of geopolymer soil concrete speci- Microscopic morphology analysis
mens is measured every 100 freeze-thaw cycles, and the rela-
tive dynamic elastic modulus is calculated. When the dynamic The properties of metakaolin and fly ash are different, and the
elastic modulus of geopolymer soil concrete specimens de- geopolymers formed by alkali activation are also different.
creases to 60% of the initial value, it is considered that the Figure 3 is a SEM photograph of geopolymer concrete with
geopolymer soil concrete specimens have been destroyed different fly ash and metakaolin contents.
(Ran 2015). Relative dynamic elastic modulus of geopolymer It can be seen from Fig. 3a that the low content of fly ash
soil concrete specimens is calculated according to formula (3): and metakaolin forms a continuous geopolymer soil after al-
! kali stimulation, but the structure is loose, the reaction
1 3 f 2ni
E¼ ∑ ð3Þ
3 i¼1 f 20i 80 Maintenance period 3 days
Maintenance period 7 days 68
In the formula, E is the average relative dynamic modulus
of elasticity (%) of a group of geopolymer soil concrete spec-
60
compressive strength/MPa

imens after n freeze-thaw cycles; fni is the transverse funda- 57.5

mental frequency (Hz) of the ith geopolymer soil concrete 50 50
48 46.6
specimens after n freeze-thaw cycles; and f0i is the initial
transverse fundamental frequency (Hz) of the ith geopolymer 40 38 39.0 35 57.5
38
soil concrete specimens before freeze-thaw cycles. 29
29

25.5
20
Results

Mechanical test results of geopolymer soil concrete

0
GC-1 GC-2 GC-3 GC-4 GC-5 GC-6 GC-7
Compressive strength analysis
Groups of Polymer Concrete Specimens
in Different Areas
Metakaolin reacts with fly ash more actively and forms Fig. 2 Compressive strength of geopolymer concrete with different
geopolymer by alkali activator. The influence of different fly contents of fly ash and metakaolin
Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:963 Page 5 of 10 963

Fig. 3 SEM photographs of

geopolymer concrete with
different fly ash–metakaolin con-
tents. a GC-6 group. b GC-3
group. c GC-1 group. d GC-2
group. e GC-7 group

10 µm 10 µm 10 µm

(a) GC-6 group (b) GC-3 group (c) GC-1 group

10 µm 10 µm

(d) GC-2 group (e) GC-7 group

products are distributed in sheet structure, and some areas It can be seen from Fig. 4 that when the sand content
have holes. Increasing the content of fly ash and metakaolin increases from 0.25% to 0.30%, the compressive strength
is conducive to improving the structure compactness of of polymer concrete changes from 66% to 60%, reducing
geopolymer soil. When the content of fly ash and metakaolin by 6%. When the sand content continues to increase to
is relatively high ((Fig. 3c, Fig. 3 (d), and graph 3 (E)), a large 0.35%, the compressive strength of polymer concrete is
number of fly ash microbeads are wrapped in geopolymer gel, 40%, reduced by 20%, and the compressive strength is
and the different sizes of pores are peeling off mainly due to obviously reduced. When the sand content increases from
the fly ash microbeads. However, it can be seen from 0.25% to 0.30%, the splitting tensile strength will increase
geopolymer gel phase that the geopolymer gel phase formed from 50% to 55%. When the sand content continues to
after the excitation of large amount of fly ash and metakaolin increase, the splitting tensile strength will decrease.
is more compact, which accords with the analysis results of According to the results of compressive strength and split-
previous compressive strength tests. ting tensile strength, the optimal sand ratio is between
0.25 and 0.30%.

Effect of sand ratio on compressive and splitting tensile

strength Effect of bone glue ratio on compressive and split tensile
strength
Figure 4 shows the variation trend of compressive and splitting
tensile strength of geopolymer soil concrete with sand ratio. Figure 5 shows the variation trend of compressive and split-
ting tensile strength of geopolymer soil concrete with bone-
Compressive strength
cement ratio.
Splitting tensile strength
4.0
As can be seen from Fig. 5, when the bone glue ratio
70
Splitting tensile strength/Mpa

increases from 3.0% to 3.5%, the compressive strength

Compressive strength/MPa

of geopolymer earth concrete increases from 54% to

50 3.0 62%. But with the increase of bone glue ratio, the com-
pressive strength began to decrease. When it increased to
4.0%, the compressive strength became 43%. When the
30 2.0 bone glue ratio increases from 3.0% to 3.5%, the split-
ting tensile strength of geopolymer concrete increases
from 30% to 34%. When the bone glue ratio increases
10 1.0
0.25 0.30 0.35 to 4.0%, the splitting tensile strength of geopolymer con-
Sand percentage/% crete only increases by 1%. The best bone glue ratio is
Fig. 4 Effect of sand ratio on compressive and splitting strength 3.5%.
 963 Page 6 of 10 Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:963

Compressive strength
Relationship between compressive strength and splitting
Splitting tensile strength
70 5.0 tensile strength at normal temperature

Splitting tensile strength/Mpa

Compressive strength/MPa

According to the splitting tensile and compressive strength

50
30
10
3.0 3.5
Bone glue ratio/%
Fig. 5 Effect of bone-glue ratio on compressive and splitting strength
Effect of water-binder ratio on compressive and splitting
tensile strength
Figure 6 shows the variation trend of compressive and split-
ting tensile strength of geopolymer soil concrete with water-
binder ratio.
According to Fig. 6, when the water binder ratio increases
from 0.35% to 0.40%, the compressive strength of
geopolymer concrete increases from 40% to 64%, and the
compressive strength increases by 24%.When the water bind-
er ratio increases to 0.50%, the compressive strength of
geopolymer concrete is 35%, and the compressive strength
is reduced by 29%.When the water binder ratio increases from
0.35% to 0.40%, the splitting tensile strength of geopolymer
concrete changes from 60% to 54%, and the splitting tensile
strength decreases by 6%. When the water binder ratio in-
creases to 0.50%, the splitting tensile strength of geopolymer
concrete is 48% and the splitting tensile strength is reduced by
6%. The best water binder ratio is 0.40%.
4.0
test results, the relationship between splitting tensile strength
and compressive strength is fitted by power function curve.
The fitting results are shown in Fig. 7.
It can be seen from Fig. 7 that the splitting tensile strength
3.0 of fly-ash-metakaolin-based geopolymer concrete increases
slowly with the compressive strength. The reason is that the
ratio of fly ash to metakaolin is 1:1; that is, fly ash accounts for
2.0
50% of the total silica-alumina powder, and the natural
4.0 watering curing is adopted instead of high temperature curing,
which is beneficial to the activation of fly ash and makes the
polymerization reaction more complete. Therefore, the bond-
ing performance between cementitious materials and aggre-
gates is better. The splitting tensile strength can be greatly
increased, while the compressive strength is not affected. In
addition, it is found that the ratio of splitting tensile strength to
compressive strength of fly-ash-metakaolin-based
geopolymer soil concrete is between 1/13 and 1/18, which is
close to the experimental results of high strength concrete
(1/15–1/18) and common concrete (1/12–1/20).
Test results of frost resistance of geopolymer soil
concrete
Vacuum saturated volume absorption rate of geopolymer soil
concrete
The frost resistance of geopolymer soil concrete is often de-
termined by the content of frozen water in the concrete. The
volume absorption rate of geopolymer soil directly affects the
content of frozen water. In order to verify that the mixed
4

Compressive strength
Splitting tensile strength
70 4.0
Splitting tensile strength/MPa

3.5
Splitting tensile strength/Mpa
Compressive strength/MPa

50 3.0 3

2.0 2.5
30

2
10 1.0 10 20 60 40 50 60 70
0.35 0.40 0.50 compressive strength/MPa
Water-binder ratio/% Fig. 7 Relationship between compressive strength and splitting tensile
Fig. 6 Effect of water-cement ratio on compressive and splitting strength strength of geopolymer soil concrete at room temperature
Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:963 Page 7 of 10 963

Table 3 Vacuum saturated volume absorption rate of geopolymer soil From Table 4, it can be seen that when the content of
concrete
metakaolin and fly ash is high, with the increase of freeze-
Group Vacuum saturated volume absorption rate/% thaw cycles, the mass loss of the samples of GC-3 groups
firstly appears negative value. This is because with the in-
GC-1 13.1 crease of freeze-thaw cycles, the number and volume of
GC-2 12.5 micro-cracks in the concrete of geopolymer soil increase, the
GC-3 14.9 cracks absorb water or the hydration reaction occurs, etc. at
GC-4 13.2 the initial stage of freeze-thaw, resulting in that water absorp-
GC-5 13.3 tion is greater than surface peeling, leading to increased mass
GC-6 15.4 (Kumar et al. 2010). When the number of freeze-thaw cycles
GC-7 11.6 reaches 1200, the mass loss rate of all geopolymer concrete
specimens is less than 5%. This shows that the geopolymer
concrete specimens have not frozen out, and their frost resis-
geopolymer soil can form a more compact concrete structure, tance grade is above F1200, and the mass loss rate of
the vacuum saturated volume liquid absorption rate of the geopolymer soil concrete specimens with higher content of
geopolymer soil concrete specimens is tested. The results are metakaolin and fly ash is less than that of geopolymer soil
shown in Table 3. concrete specimens with lower content of both. When mixed
It can be seen from Table 3 that the vacuum water saturated with fly ash, the frost resistance of geopolymer soil concrete
volume liquid absorption rate of geopolymer soil concrete is can be improved.
large, which is because the pores of geopolymer soil concrete
will form after a large amount of free water evaporates. The
mixing of fly ash and metakaolin in geopolymer concrete can Analysis of relative dynamic elastic modulus of geopolymer
effectively reduce the vacuum saturated volume absorption soil concrete under freeze-thaw cycle
rate of geopolymer concrete. The higher the content of fly
ash and metakaolin is, the lower the vacuum saturated volume The influence of freeze-thaw cycles on the relative dynamic
absorption rate is. Under the same conditions, the frozen water modulus elastic modulus of geopolymer soil concrete is
content of geopolymer concrete is lower and the frost resis- shown in Table 5.
tance of geopolymer concrete is improved. From Table 5, it can be seen that the relative dynamic
elastic modulus of geopolymer concrete specimens is more
than 80% after 1200 freeze-thaw cycles, which indicates that
Mass loss of geopolymer soil concrete in freeze-thaw cycle geopolymer concrete has not frozen out, and the relative dy-
namic elastic modulus of geopolymer concrete with higher
The mass loss of geopolymer soil concrete during freeze-thaw content of metakaolin and fly ash is larger than that of
cycles is shown in Table 4. geopolymer concrete with lower content of metakaolin and

Table 4 Mass loss of geopolymer soil concrete during freeze-thaw cycles

Number of freeze-thaw Mass loss rate in group Mass loss rate in group Mass loss rate in group Mass loss rate in group Mass loss rate in group
cycles GC-1/% GC-2/% GC-3/% GC-6/% GC-7/%

100 0 0 0 0 0
200 0 0 0 0 0
300 0 0 0 0 0
400 0 0 − 0.017 0 0
500 0 0 0.009 0.013 0
600 0.006 0 0.013 0.016 0
700 0.019 0 0.044 0.044 0
800 0.031 − 0.009 0.052 0.057 0.008
900 0.048 0.019 0.068 0.078 0.031
1000 0.057 0.031 0.077 0.082 0.039
1100 0.060 0.034 0.089 0.103 0.052
1200 0.092 0.057 0.126 0.133 0.068
 963 Page 8 of 10 Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:963

Table 5 Analysis of the impact of freeze-thaw cycle on the relative dynamic elastic modulus of ground polymer soil concrete

Number of Relative dynamic elastic Relative dynamic elastic Relative dynamic elastic Relative dynamic elastic Relative dynamic elastic
freeze-thaw modulus of gc-1 group/% modulus of gc-2 group/% modulus of gc-3 group/% modulus of gc-6 group/% modulus of gc-7 group/%
cycles

100 0 0 0 0 0
200 99.5 99.7 99.4 99.4 99.7
300 99.0 99.5 99.1 98.9 99.5
400 98.2 99.2 98.3 98.1 99.2
500 97.7 98.6 97.8 97.6 98.5
600 97.7 98.2 97.2 97.2 97.7
700 96.5 97.4 96.4 95.6 96.9
800 95.0 96.9 94.1 93.4 96.4
900 93.1 96.2 92.3 91.9 95.7
1000 92.2 95.6 90.9 87.8 95.1
1100 90.0 94.3 88.2 86.3 93.0
1200 88.8 92.5 86.0 84.4 90.6

fly ash, showing that the mixing of metakaolin and fly ash can
improve the frost resistance of the concrete.
In order to verify the frost resistance of concrete with dif-
ferent compositions, the frost cracking of concrete is com-
pared at different temperatures. The results are shown in
Table 6.
It can be seen from Table 6 that for the concrete at different
temperatures, there are differences in the frost cracking of
concrete. When the temperature is – 10 °0, there is no frost
crack in GC-1 and GC-3. The frost cracking degree of GC-2
and GC-4 concrete is 12%, that of gc-5 is 8%, that of gc-6 is
11%, and that of gc-7 is 12%. Analysis of the overall data
shows that the frost resistance of GC-3 group is the best.
emission from coal-fired power plants is increasing year by
year, and it has become one of the industrial waste residues
with large discharge in China. A large number of fly ash
without treatment will produce dust and pollute the atmo-
sphere; if discharged into the water system, it will cause river
siltation and toxic chemicals will also cause harm to human
and biological. The small particle size of fly ash (400–600
mesh) can play a role of compact filling and improve the
compactness and uniformity of concrete. Fly ash contains high
amorphous silica-aluminum structure, most of which are used
as cementitious materials to partly or completely replace ce-
ment, and its characteristics become the preferred raw material
for the preparation of geopolymer concrete.

(1) Metakaolin is an anhydrous aluminum silicate formed by

dehydration of kaolin at appropriate temperature.
Discussions Because the molecular arrangement of metakaolin is ir-
regular and its powder particles show metastable state at
Fly ash, a fine ash collected from flue gas after coal combus- thermodynamic and micro-chemical levels, metakaolin
tion, is the main solid waste discharged from coal-fired power has high potential reactivity and cementitious property
plants. With the development of power industry, the fly ash under appropriate excitation. It is an excellent trigger
and stabilizer.
(2) Metakaolin is a highly active mineral admixture. It is
Table 6 Frost resistance of concrete at different temperatures
amorphous aluminum silicate formed by calcination of
Temperature/°C Frost cracking degree of concrete/% ultra-fine kaolin at low temperature. It has high pozzola-
nic activity. It is the preferred raw material for the prep-
GC-1 GC-2 GC-3 GC-4 GC-5 GC-6 GC-7
aration of geopolymer and is mainly used as concrete
−5 0 0 0 0 5 10 12 admixture.
− 10 0 12 0 12 8 11 14 (3) Using fly ash and metakaolin to make geopolymer
− 15 10 13 0 15 10 15 16 soil as the main component of concrete can improve
− 20 15 15 2 22 11 18 18
the mechanical properties and frost resistance of con-
− 25 20 22 5 26 12 20 21
crete, improve the economic performance, and also
− 30 25 28 8 32 13 22 27
have the significance of environmental protection
and energy saving.
Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:963
Conclusions
In this paper, the mechanics and frost resistance tests of fly-
ash-metakaolin-based aggregate concrete are carried out.
Through the mechanical compressive strength, micro-mor-
phology, splitting tensile strength, and frost resistance tests
of geopolymer concrete, the following conclusions are drawn:
(1) The compressive strength of fly ash–metakaolin soil
polymer concrete increases with the increase of the con-
tent of fly ash and metakaolin. Under the condition of no
admixture, when the water binder ratio is 0.4%, the sand
ratio is 0.25–0.3%, and the bone glue ratio is 3.5%,
geopolymer earth concrete can obtain the best compres-
sion and frost resistance.
(2) The mass loss rate and relative dynamic modulus loss of
geopolymer concrete with high content of metakaolin
and fly ash after 1200 freeze-thaw cycles are smaller than
those of geopolymer concrete with low content of
metakaolin and fly ash.
(3) It shows that adding mineral admixtures can improve the
frost resistance of concrete, and fly-ash-metakaolin-
based geopolymer can reduce the water absorption of
concrete’s water-saturated volume and effectively im-
prove the frost resistance.
Funding The study was supported by “Project of Special Fund for Basic
Scientific Research Operating Expenses of Central Universities, China
(Grant No. 2572017BB05)”, and “the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51708092)”.
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