Accepted Manuscript

MSWIBA-based cellular alkali-activated concrete incorporating waste glass powder

Dongxing Xuan, Pei Tang, Chi Sun Poon

PII: S0958-9465(18)30881-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2018.10.018
Reference: CECO 3167

To appear in: Cement and Concrete Composites

Received Date: 30 August 2018

Revised Date: 18 October 2018
Accepted Date: 29 October 2018

Please cite this article as: D. Xuan, P. Tang, C.S. Poon, MSWIBA-based cellular alkali-activated
concrete incorporating waste glass powder, Cement and Concrete Composites (2018), doi: https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2018.10.018.

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
MSWIBA-based cellular alkali-activated concrete incorporating waste glass powder

Dongxing Xuan, Pei Tang and Chi Sun Poon∗

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,

Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

∗
Corresponding author: cecspoon@polyu.edu.hk

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Abstract: In this study, municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWIBA) and waste

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glass were recycled and reused to synthesize aerated or cellular alkali-activated concrete

(AAAC) in order to minimise their disposal at landfills and to produce a valued added

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construction material. The experimental results showed that incorporating 20% of waste
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glass powder (WGP) in the alkali-activated MSWIBA-WGP products would not cause a

decrease in strength, and WGP can be considered as a precursor as well as a waste-derived

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activator to provide the reactive silicate for geopolymerization. The MSWIBA as the major
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precursor contributed to the structure forming of AAAC as well as acting as a source of

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foaming agent due to the presence of metallic aluminium. The prepared AAAC incorporating

20% WGP exhibited low thermal conductivities ranging from 0.14 to 0.38 W/m·K with
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compressive strengths ranging from 0.9 to 10.4 MPa, and density values from 494 to 1295
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kg/m3. The results obtained by optical photography and Scanning Electron Microscopy-
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backscattered electrons imaging (SEM-BSE) methods showed that the prepared AAAC had

less spherical air voids and wider air-void size distribution from 0.02 to 3.0 mm when

compared to traditional aerated cement concrete, and the reactive silica was able to form

C(N)-A-S-H which provided the mechanical strength development of AAAC.

Key words: Aerated alkali-activated concrete; incineration bottom ash; waste glass powder;

thermal conductivity; foaming agent; metallic aluminium

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1. Introduction

Energy efficient buildings are being increasingly recognised as a paramount and essential

part of sustainable development in modern housing and the construction industry [1]. In

order to reduce the energy consumption of buildings, aerated or cellular cement concrete

(ACC) with a high level of thermal insulation has been increasingly used in modern buildings

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in past decades. Therefore, ACC with a wide range of thermal conductivities (0.06-0.7W/m·K)

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and densities (400-1600 kg/m3) can be produced by optimizing the mixture (e.g. use of

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different types of cementitious materials, foaming agents, mixing methods, mixture design

methods, etc.) [2].

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Traditionally, ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is the most common binder used in ACC. With
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the sustainable assessment of the engineering community and the growing public concern

of the environmental impacts of cement and concrete production, recent innovations have
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led to the development of sustainable aerated or cellular alkali-activated concrete (AAAC)

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by using supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and alkaline activators [3]. It has
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been estimated that reduction of the global warming potential (GWP) by using geopolymer

may be in the range of 70-90% when compared with OPC based materials [4].
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In general, a wide range of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) with rich

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compositions of SiO2-Al2O3 or CaO-SiO2-Al2O3, such as metakaolin, fly ash, blast furnace slag
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or mixtures of them, are used for the production of AAAC [5-7]. However, from a practical

point of view, these SCMs are nowadays regarded as high-quality alternatives of OPC. In

Hong Kong, due to the environmental pressure to reduce burning of coal for energy

production, local production of fly ash can only meet one-third of Hong Kong’s total demand

of use in concrete, and the rest is imported from mainland China [8]. To further develop

sustainable AAAC with obviously reduced carbon footprints, alternative or “low quality”

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binders such as solid wastes from local waste streams should be used in lieu of the

conventional SCMs. Moreover, these solid wastes may be somehow upgraded to value-

added geopolymer precursors with a good quality and at an acceptably low cost.

Moreover, the environmental load of alkali-activated materials is mainly contributed by the

use of commercial activators (M2O•nSiO2+MOH, where M often refers to Na or K). It has

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been reported that the contribution of sodium silicate used in alkali-activated materials can

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be over 60% of its total environmental impacts [9-11]. This is due to high emissions and

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energy consumption associated with the industrial production of sodium silicate [12]. As a

result, developing alternative waste-derived and less resource-intensive activators is

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important for designing environmentally friendly alkali-activated materials as well reducing
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the production cost.

Furthermore, it is also known that in order to generate air voids in AAAC, there are two
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main foaming methods commonly used: chemical foaming by mixing a gas-releasing agent
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(e.g. fine metallic aluminium [7, 13, 14], or H2O2 [14, 15]) and mechanical pre-foaming
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techniques through the direct introduction of air bubbles using an organic agent (e.g.

protein with enzymatic active components [16], or an aqueous surface active concentrate[5,
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14]). However, the use of these foaming agents and additional energy required would not
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be conducive to improving the sustainability of AAAC. For example, the commonly used
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aluminium powder has high environmental and economic impacts as 15000 kWh of heat

and electrical energy is needed to produce a tonne of pure aluminium from bauxite and 5

tons of residues are generated [17].

Consequently, in order to improve the sustainability of AAAC, using other types of urban

solid wastes as precursors and activators should be sought. As one of urban solid wastes,

municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWIBA) is the major by-product after

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incinerating municipal solid waste (MSW) at waste-to-energy plants [18, 19]. Fine MSWIBA

contains contaminants (e.g. metallic aluminium, glass and gypsum) that cannot be

effectively removed by current recycling techniques, and this limits its engineering

application in OPC based concrete products [20]. Researchers have reported that MSWIBA

can be used to produce alkali-activated materials due to its alkaline activity, and also the

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presence of metallic aluminium in the MSWIBA can be regarded as an aerating agent [21-23].

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Additionally, among urban solid wastes, non-recyclable waste glass still exists worldwide,

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especially in some cities with a low recycling rate [24, 25]. The waste glass powder can be

considered as a suitable silica material for the production of alkali-activated/geopolymer

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material if enough reactive alumina or calcium is incorporated [26, 27]. Meanwhile, due to
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its rich amorphous silica, there is a potential for considering the waste glass powder as an

alternative activator when a high alkaline solution is used to prepare alkali-activated

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materials. Previous studies have shown the feasibility of using waste glass powder (WGP) as
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an activator in geopolymer concrete [28].

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In this study, an attempt to use MSWIBA and waste glass powder (WGP) to synthesize a

highly sustainable AAAC was reported. The MSWIBA was considered as the major precursor
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for the AAAC as well as acting as a source of foaming agent due to the presence of metallic
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aluminium. For WGP, it was used as a precursor as well as a waste-derived activator to

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provide the reactive silicate for geopolymerization.

2. Materials and experimental methods

2.1 Materials

A water-quenched MSWIBA was collected from a Chinese MSWI plant and the total storage

time of MSWIBA was approximately 1.5 years before it was used in the laboratory study.

After sieving, the oven-dried fine ash fraction with the size of < 2.36 mm was used in this

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study. This fraction was further ground by using a laboratory ball mill to obtain a powder for

the preparation of the alkali-activated materials. The laboratory ball mill was a commercially

available equipment with a hollow cylindrical shell designed to horizontally rotate along its

axis. Its rotating speed with approximately 2 kg of MSWIBA was 60 rpm. The hollow

cylindrical shell had an internal diameter of 260 mm and a length of 330 mm.

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The waste glass used in this study was derived from post-consumer beverage bottles which

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were collected from a waste glass recycling facility in Hong Kong. The waste glass bottles

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were first washed to remove the contaminants, and then crushed and ground for 6 h to

obtain WGP with a laboratory ball mill.

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Table 1 lists the oxide compositions of MSWIBA and WGP by mass determined by X-ray
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fluorescence (XRF). The major oxides were SiO2, CaO and Al2O3 in the MSWIBA, and SiO2,

CaO, and Na2O in the WGP. The high content of SiO2 in the MSWIBA was due to the
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presence of a lot of waste glass particles as well as other mineral components. In this study,
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a gas collection setup over water was developed to determine the amount of metallic
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aluminium retained in the MSWIBA by considering its chemical reaction with an alkaline

solution (NaOH) [20, 29, 30]. It was found that the metallic Al in the MSWIBA powder was
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0.048±0.002% by mass. As reported by other researchers [31], the metallic Al present in the
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MSWIBA can be considered as a foaming agent to generate hydrogen bubbles without the
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incorporation of other foaming agents for alkali-activated MSWIBA products.

Referring to particle size distribution, a comparison of MSWIBA powder and WGP is

presented in Figure 1. The D50 value (the diameter at which 50% of a sample's mass is

comprised of smaller particles) of MSWIBA and WGP was 18.44 μm and 9.19 μm,

respectively. The MSWIBA powder was relatively coarser than that of WGP.

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The mineralogy of MSWIBA and WGP was determined by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD)

with the following operating parameters: Cu Kα radiation, 45 kV, 200 mA power generator.

An angular range of 10-60° 2θ was measured with a step size of 0.03° per second. The

reference intensity ratio (RIR) method known as “matrix flushing method’ was adopted for

mineral phase quantification in the MSWIBA and WGP, in which corundum (α-Al2O3

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powder>99.95%) was used as an internal standard [32, 33]. Figure 2 shows the XRD

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diffraction patterns of MSWIBA and WGP mixed with 20% corundum. It was found that the

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XRD pattern of WGP had no diffraction peak identifiable to any crystalline compound, and

only an amorphous hump was detected from 17° to 35°. On the contrary, the crystalline

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phases in the MSWIBA were mainly quartz (SiO2, 37.2% by mass), calcite (CaCO3, 8.4 % by
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mass), calcium-sodium-magnesium phosphate (3.2% by mass). The MSWIBA sample had a

relatively higher peak at about 26.6°, which represented the main quartz peak. Compared to
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quartz, the intensity of CaCO3 was weaker and that of calcium-sodium-magnesium

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phosphate was the weakest.

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2.2 Mix proportions and preparation of AAAC

The mix proportions of AAAC prepared with MSWIBA and WGP are listed in Table 2. The
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mixture design focused on studying the influence of the ratios of MSWIBA to WGP, liquid to
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solid (L/S), the alkalinity of NaOH and the mixing duration. The mixture of MSWIBA and
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WGP was first mixed with the required sodium hydroxide solution at a mixing speed of

approximately 800 revolution /min. The mixing duration ranged from 2 mins to 60 mins.

Then, the freshly mixed paste was cast into cylindrical plastic moulds with dimensions of

Ø50×100 mm. The specimens were cured in a steam curing chamber at 80°C for 1 day, 7

days and 28 days.

2.3 Experimental methods

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2.3.1 Mechanical properties

The prepared cylindrical AAAC’s specimens were cut into dimensions of ø50×50 mm by a

diamond saw and they were used for the compressive strength testing. The compressive

strength was examined by a hydraulic compression machine with a loading rate of 0.6 KN/s.

For each mix, three specimens were used to obtain the average and the standard deviation.

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2.3.2 Measurement of thermal conductivity

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The transient place source (TPS) method was adopted to measure the thermal conductivity

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of AAAC by a Hot Disk thermal analyser. Based on this method, the sensor with a diameter

of 20 mm was placed between the two cylindrical samples with a diameter of 50 mm and a

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thickness of 20 mm. In order to obtain accurate thermal conductivity measurements, the
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samples were first dried and the tested sides of the samples were polished. Depending on

constitutes of the specimens, the voltages used were between 80 mV and 400 mV and the
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time of testing was between 80 and 160 seconds.

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2.3.3 Determination of air void distribution by optical photography

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To characterise the air voids inside the prepared mixtures, several procedures were

performed. First, a cylindrical specimen with a diameter of 50 mm as shown in Figure 3 (a)

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was impregnated with a red-coloured resin. After the resin was hardened, a thin slice was
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cut off from the specimen and photographed by means of a high resolution digital camera
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(2000 × 2000 pixels) (see Figure 3(b)). Based on the colour differences, the image was

processed by the Adobe Photoshop CS6 software to distinguish different sizes of air voids

from the matrix as shown in Figure 3(c). Because the air voids were not spherical in shape,

the equivalent diametrical void sizes were calculated based on the pixels of each red area

and the size of the specimen captured. Moreover, the number of each air void size and their

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distributions can be statistically analysed based on the processed images, and the results

are presented in the following sections (3.3).

2.3.4 Microanalysis by SEM-BSE

The representative polished AAAC samples cured for different days were chosen and

processed to evaluate the formation and development of alkali-activated reaction products.

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Microanalysis was conducted by a JEOL Model JSM-6490 scanning electron microscope

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(SEM) with an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) detector. The samples were first

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impregnated with a low-viscosity epoxy resin (EPO-TEK 301). After setting of the epoxy, the

samples were well polished, followed by sputtering with a conducting carbon coating.

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Observations of SEM-EDX were performed in the backscattered electron (BSE) mode.
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3. Experimental results

3.1 Influences of mixture variables on mechanical properties

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Figure 4 shows the influences of the ratios of MSWIBA to WGP ratio, liquid to solid, the
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mixing duration and the concentration of NaOH solution on the compressive strength of
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AAAC. As shown in Figure 4 (a), it can be noticed that with the increase of MSWIBA, the

compressive strength of AAAC decreased. Compared to the mixture prepared with 100%
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WGP, there was an obvious decrease for the specimen prepared with 20% MSWIBA and 80%
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WGP. This might be due to hydrogen gas was generated from the metallic aluminium
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retained in the MSWIBA which reacted with the alkaline solution, and then more voids were

formed in the mixture. Meanwhile, it was also found that for the mixtures prepared with the

MSWIBA content in the range of 0 to 60 %, the 28-day compressive strengths were much

lower than that at 7 day. The pure glass powder mixture suffered the highest strength loss

from 7 day to 28 day. This was consistent with previous findings [34]. In contrast, without

WGP or with less than 20 % WGP, the compressive strength of AAAC increased with the

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curing ages. This shows that a higher content of GWP in AAAC was not helpful for the

strength formation in the later ages, and the optimal content of GWP in AAAC would be

approximately 20% by mass.

As illustrated in Figure 4 (b), it was found that the L/S ratio was another critical factor

determining the compressive strength of AAAC. With the increase of the L/S ratio from 0.4

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to 0.8, the compressive strength of AAAC cured for 28 days was decreased from 10.41 MPa

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to 0.86 MPa. This should be mainly attributed to the formation of more solution-filled void

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spaces between the particles with the increasing L/S ratio.

In Figure 4 (c), the mixing duration of AAAC also affected its compressive strength. It can be

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found that when increasing the mixing duration from 2 to 60 mins, the increase in the
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compressive strength of AAAC was over three times, reaching by 21 MPa. The density of

AAAC also became higher (i.e. from 1147 kg/m3 to 1407 kg/m3). This might be due to the
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hydrogen gas generated was released from the mixture with a longer mixing duration.
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It is known that increasing the concentration of alkaline activator may increase the rate and
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degree of reaction for the structure forming process of geopolymer [34]. As shown in Figure

4 (d), the AAAC prepared with a 4 M sodium hydroxide solution had a relatively low
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compressive strength. Increasing the molarity of NaOH from 6 M to 12 M can help to

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increase the strength, but it only slightly improved the compressive strength. This might be
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due to increasing the concentration of the activator beyond a certain level was not critical

for geopolymerization [35].

3.2 Effects of mixture variables on thermal conductivity

Figure 5 shows the thermal conductivity results of the prepared AAACs. Compared to the

mixture prepared with 100% WGP, there was an obvious decrease in the thermal

conductivity of AAAC prepared with 20% MSWIBA and 80% WGP. This was due to the air

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void formation in the mixture, which was generated by the metallic aluminium present in

the MSWIBA. It was also found that the thermal conductivity showed a linear decreasing

trend with the increase of L/S ratio from 0.4 to 0.8. The mixing duration was another

important factor to influence the thermal conductivity of AAAC because it affected the

formation and evolution of air voids in the mixtures. As shown in Figure 4(c), the density of

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AAAC increased with the mixing duration due to the gas release and the reduction in

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porosity. Thus, increasing the mixing duration would decrease the thermal conductivity of

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AAAC and the optimal mixing duration was 15 mins based on the results shown in Figure 5

(c). Based on the results on Figure 5 (d), the alkalinity of NaOH had no or minor effect on the

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thermal conductivities of AAAC. The thermal conductivity values of all AAAC prepared with
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different molarities of NaOH solution were approximately 0.30 W/m·K.

3.3 Features of generated air voids by optical photography

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3.3.1 Air void fraction and mean void diameter

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The air voids in the developed AAAC can be characterized by a few parameters like mean
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size, volume, size distribution, shape and number of each size void. Table 3 illustrates the

images of the diametrical cross sections of AAAC prepared with different L/S ratios and
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different contents of MSWIBA. The air void fraction and mean void diameter are
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summarized as well. It was found that the influence of L/S ratio on the mean void diameter
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was not obvious, while it had a big influence on the total porosity of the mixtures. When the

L/S ratio was increased from 0.4 to 0.8, the total porosity of the mixture was increased by

approximately two times from 23.3 % to 42.2 %. This should be attributed to the increase of

alkaline content which was helpful for the gas generation from the metallic aluminium

retained in the MSWIBA. Also, more solution-filled pore spaces would be present between

the particles with the increasing L/S ratio. Moreover, it can be noticed that when increasing

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the content of MSWIBA from 0% to 100%, it not only increased the mean diameter of the air

voids, but also increased the total porosity. Additionally, from the morphologies of air void

images, it can be observed that when increasing the L/S ratio and the MSWIBA content, the

size distribution of the air voids became bigger, and their shape was less spherical.

3.3.2 Size distributions of air voids

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Figure 6 shows the frequency of different sizes of air voids formed in the alkali-activated

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cellular MSWIBA-WGP products, which was determined by optical photography and image

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analysis. The air voids mainly distributed in the following size ranges: fine (0.02-0.1 mm),

medium (0.1-0.5 mm, 0.5-1.0 mm) and large (1.0-3.0 mm). Based on the classification of

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porosity in aerated concrete material[36], the pore size ranging from 0.1-3.0 mm is
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considered as artificial gas pores, which are formed due to hydrogen gas generated from

aluminium reaction (in some cases foam pores). It was observed that the pore size
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distribution of AAAC was dependant on the MSWIBA content and the L/S ratio. When a
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higher MSWIBA content was used, higher amounts of medium (0.5-1.0 mm) and large (1.0-
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3.0 mm) air voids were detected. This should be attributed to the increase of the metallic

aluminium with the increase of the MSWIBA. For the influence of the L/S ratio, it was found
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that an L/S ratio of 0.7 resulted in a lower amount of larger air voids and higher amount of
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fine air voids. Moreover, the size distribution of the air voids of the prepared AAAC was
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wider ranging from 0.02 mm to 3.0 mm, and their shape as shown in Table 3 was less

spherical. The larger air void size could be attributed to the bigger size of the metallic

aluminium particles present in the MSWIBA. Conventionally, a single size of metallic

aluminum powder (e.g. 50 μm [14]) is used to as the foaming agent to produce the foam

concrete, and the generated void size is relatively smaller and its shape is mostly spherical.

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Table 4 further presents the air void features of the prepared AAAC compared with other

geopolymer foam concretes produced by using different foaming methods. It can be found

that the AAAC prepared in this study have similar void features to those geopolymer foam

concretes using the chemical foaming technique, except the void circularity. By using the

mechanical foaming technique, smaller air-void size distribution can be obtained and the

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void circularity was less spherical. Because of less spherical void shape and wider air-void

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distribution, the developed AAAC in this study by using MSWIBA as a foaming agent had a

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relatively lower strength compared with other types of geopolymer foam concrete like

porous fly ash-based geopolymer [5].

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3.4 Relationship between compressive strength, bulk density, thermal conductivity and
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void fraction

Figure 7 shows the relationship between bulk density of AAAC and its compressive strength.
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Experimentally, it can be found that there was a strong exponential correlation between the
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compressive strength and the bulk density of AAAC. The compressive strength of AAAC was
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approximately 1.0 MPa when the dry bulk density was about 500 kg/m3. The compressive

strength rapidly increased when the bulk density of AAAC exceeded 900 kg/m3. Such a
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relationship between bulk density of aerated concrete and compressive strength is

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consistent with previous findings [37]. However, compared to other types of geopolymer
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foam concretes, the prepared AAAC in this study had a relatively lower strength at the same

bulk density. Zhang et al. [5] reported that when the dry density of fly ash-slag geopolymer

foam concrete was increased from 585 kg/m3 to 1370 kg/m3, its compressive strength was

increased from 3 MPa to 48 MPa. This might be because the MSWIBA had a relatively lower

geopolymerization activity than that of fly ash and slag in other geopolymer foam concretes.

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The relationship between the bulk density of AAAC and the thermal conductivity is plotted

in Figure 8. The thermal conductivity of AAAC linearly increased from 0.14 to 0.40 as its bulk

density was increased from 500 kg/m3 to 1400 kg/m3. The thermal conductivity of the

prepared AAAC was in the same range as that of fly ash-slag foam geopolymer concrete [5].

Moreover, it is also similar to that of aerated Portland cement concrete [37].

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Figure 9 shows the effect of the air void fraction on the thermal conductivity of AAAC, for a

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set of samples prepared with different L/S ratios and different contents of WGP. The

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thermal conductivity of the developed AAAC was closely related to its air void fraction. In

general, a higher air void fraction in the foam concrete would result in a lower thermal

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conductivity [37].
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3.5 Morphology of alkali-activated MSWIBA-WGP mixtures by SEM-BSE

Figure 10 shows the BSE images of the alkali-activated MSWIBA-WGP mixtures cured for 7
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days and 28 days. From the morphologies of these images, it can be found that the mixture
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prepared with 80% WGP and 20% MSWIBA had more microcracks in the alkali-activated
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reaction products, especially at 28 days as shown in Figure 10 (b). This would result in the

deterioration of the material structure. However, in comparison, the morphologies of the

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mixture prepared with 20% WGP and 80% MSWIBA had more unreacted particles and fewer
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microcracks, indicating that the alkali-activated reaction products in its matrix were stable
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and integral.

Table 5 lists the EDX results of different targeted areas in Figure 10. It was found that the

alkali-activated reaction products at Area 1 had a Ca/Si ratio of 0.19, Na/Si ratio of 0.21 and

Al/Si of 0.05, and the Ca/Si ratio, Na/Si ratio and Al/Si at Area 2 was 0.26, 0.18 and 0.05,

respectively. These values were close to that of the WGP, which had a Ca/Si ratio of 0.17

and Na/Si ratio of 0.19. This indicated that the structure forming skeleton of the mixture

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prepared with 80% WGP and 20 % MSWIBA were mainly derived from the alkali-activated

WGP. For Area 3 of the mixture prepared with 20% WGP and 80% MSWIBA, the Ca/Si ratio,

Na/Si ratio and Al/Si was 0.38, 0.12 and 0.15, respectively. When further cured until 28 days,

its Ca/Si ratio, Na/Si ratio and Al/Si ratio at Area 4 was 0.61, 0.15 and 0.23, respectively.

Special attention should be paid to the increase in the Ca/Si ratio and Al/Si ratio with curing

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days. These results further indicated that the alkali-activated reaction products of the

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mixture prepared with 20% WGP and 80% MSWIBA were a kind of C(N)-A-S-H gel, which

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was much more stable as the structure forming matrix than that prepared with 80% WGP

and 20% MSWIBA (a product similar to sodium silicate gel).

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Previous studies have reported that when WGP is activated by the alkaline solution, the
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reaction products formed are C(N)-A-S-H gel and sodium silicate gel [34, 35]. Since there is

very little alumina in WGP and therefore very little formation of N-A-S-H or C-A-S-H, and
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thus the major reaction product would be the sodium silicate gel. When a large amount of
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WGP is yet to be activated, the reaction product would have a quite higher SiO2-to-Na2O
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ratio due to the formed sodium silicate gel. It had been reported that sodium silicate gels

have a higher shrinkage and hence cracking potential [34], which has been proven by the
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BSE micrographs illustrated in Figure 10. This also confirms that when the alkali-activated
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WGP is used as the main precursor, its compressive strength (Figure 4 (a)) tended to
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decrease from 7 to 28 days due to the formation of microcracks. In contrast, due to

relatively rich Al and Ca contents in the mixtures prepared with higher than 80% MSWIBA,

the reaction products had a high Ca/Si ratio and were more stable, and the forming

structure of AAAC had no microcracks which contributed to the strength increase with the

increase of the curing time.

4. Conclusions

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In this study, a sustainable alkali-activated cellular concrete product was synthesized by

integrating the utilization of MSWIBA and WGP without the addition of foaming agents and

sodium silicate. The main findings can be summarized below:

• Compared to the alkali-activated aerated MSWIBA-WGP mixture prepared with 100%

WGP, there was an obvious decrease in the compressive strength for the mixture

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prepared with 20% MSWIBA. This indicated the formation of air voids in the mixture

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because the metallic aluminium present in the MSWIBA reacted with the alkaline

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solution.

• When the MSWIBA content in the mixture ranged from 0 to 60 %, the compressive

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strength of the mixture at 28 day was lower than that at 7 day. The pure glass
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powder AAAC suffered the highest strength loss from 7 to 28 days. In contrast, for

the alkali-activated mixtures prepared with less than 20% WGP, the compressive
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strength kept increasing with the curing ages. This was due to the reactive silica
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forming the reaction product of C(N)-A-S-H rather than sodium silicate gel.
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• The prepared AAAC incorporating 20% WGP exhibited low thermal conductivities

ranging from 0.14 to 0.38 W/m·K with compressive strengths from 0.9 to 10.4 MPa,
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and their densities were within 494 to 1295 kg/m3. In these mixtures, the alkali-
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activated WGP formed sodium silicate which is commonly used as an activator in the
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traditional AAAC.

• The BSE images and EDX results of AAAC showed that when WGP was activated in

the alkaline solution, sodium silicate gel was the major reactions product formed.

When 80% WGP was used in the mixture, there was very little alumina to form the

stable C(N)-A-S-H, and more microcracks were found due to the shrinkage of the

sodium silicate gel which caused the loss of strength from 7 to 28 days.

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• The size distribution of the air voids of the prepared AAAC was wider from 0.02 mm

to 3.0 mm when compared to traditional aerated cement concrete and had less

spherical shapes. The size distribution depended on the MSWIBA content and the L/S

ratio. Using a higher MSWIBA content in the mixture resulted in the generation of a

higher amount of large and fine air voids. A high L/S ratio would produce a lower

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amount of larger air voids and higher amount of finer air voids.

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Acknowledgement

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This work was funded by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Postdoctoral Fellowship

Scheme and the Innovation and Technology Support Programme (ITS-002-17FP). We would

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like to thank Dr. Jiangshan Li (the Hong Kong Polytechnic University) for his assistance in
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sourcing the MSWIBA used in this study.

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Table 1 Oxide compositions of MSWIBA and WGP by mass

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Oxides (%) Na2O MgO Al2O3 SiO2 P2O5 SO3 Cl K 2O CaO Fe2O3 others L.O.I

MSWIBA 2.52 1.75 8.46 37.72 4.02 2.33 0.95 1.61 21.60 3.95 2.47 12.64

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WGP 13.17 1.64 2.10 67.89 0.10 0.14 0.02 0.72 10.80 0.50 0.53 2.38
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Table 2 Mixture design of AAAC prepared with MSWIBA and WGP

NaOH

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MSWIBA to WGP Liquid to solid Mixing duration
Item concentration
ratio by mass ratio (min)

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(mol/L)

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A1 0:100

A2 20:80

A3 40:60
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8 0.5 15
A4 60:40

A5 80:20
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A6 100:0
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B1 0.4
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B2 0.6
8 80:20 15
B3 0.7
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B4 0.8
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C1 2
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C2 8 80:20 0.5 30

C3 60

D1 4

D2 6 80:20 0.5 15

D3 12

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Table 3 Images of diametrical cross sections of cellular MSWIBA-glass mixtures (red: voids

impregnated by red pigment; grey: matrix of alkali-activated products).

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L/S=0.4 L/S=0.5 L/S=0.6 L/S=0.7 L/S=0.8

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MSWIBA=80% MSWIBA=80% MSWIBA=80% MSWIBA=80% MSWIBA=80%

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Porosity=23.3% Porostiy=26.2% Porosity=30.8% Porosity=33.5% Porosity=42.2%

Mean void size Mean void size Mean void size Mean void size Mean void size
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= 449 μm = 460 μm = 517 μm = 449μm = 427μm

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MSWIBA=0% MSWIBA=20% MSWIBA=40% MSWIBA=60% MSWIBA=100%

L/S=0.5 L/S=0.5 L/S-0.5 L/S=0.5 L/S=0.5

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Porosity=1.8% Porosity =23.3% Porosity =24.3% Porosity=26.0% Porosity=29.2%

Mean void size Mean void size Mean void size Mean void size Mean void size

= 228 μm = 361 μm = 260 μm = 459 μm = 627μm

Table 4 Comparison of air void features by using different foaming methods

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Void Distribution of Volume of Density
Foaming techniques Refs

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circularity air voids (mm) voids (kg/m )

Chemical foaming Spherical 0.5-3.0 mm 15-65% 400-1200 [3]

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Mechanical foaming Less spherical 0.1-1.0 mm 10-50% 400-1600 [3]

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Self-foaming by using of
Less spherical 0.02-3.0 mm 20-40% 400-1400 -
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MSWIBA (this study)
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Table 5 Elemental analysis of targeted areas by EDX

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Element
Area 1 Area 2 Area 3 Area 4
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(Atomic %)

O 55.48 55.43 54.65 51.43

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Na 6.21 5.29 3.14 3.58

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Mg 1.30 1.33 0.76 1.49

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Al 1.55 1.54 3.94 5.41

Si 29.47 29.17 26.40 23.10

K 0.42 0.55 1.02 0.80

Ca 5.57 7.69 10.19 14.19

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Figure 1 Particle size distributions of MSWIBA and WGP

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(a) WGP (b) MSWIBA

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Figure 2 XRD patterns of MSWIBA powder and WGP

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(a) Original (b) Impregnated (c) Processed

Figure 3 Image of a cross section of AAAC with a diameter of 50 mm (red: air void; grey:

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matrix/alkali-activated products)

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(a) MSWIBA (L/S=0.5, mixing=15mins) (b) L/S ratio (MSWIBA=80%, mixing=15mins)

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(c) Mixing duration (L/S=0.5, MSWIBA=80%) (d) Molarity (L/S=0.5, MSWIBA=80%, mixing=15mins)
mins)
Figure 4 Influences of mixture variables on mechanical properties

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(a) MSWIBA (L/S=0.5, mixing=15mins) (b) L/S ratio (MSWIBA=80%, mixing=15mins)

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(c) Mixing duration (L/S=0.5, MSWIBA=80%) (d) Molarity (L/S=0.5, MSWIBA=80%, mixing=15mins)
mins)
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Figure 5 Influences of material variables on thermal conductivity

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Figure 6 Size distributions of air voids in MSWIBA-WGP alkali-activated mixtures

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Figure 7 Relationship between bulk density of AAAC and compressive strength

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Figure 8 Relationship between bulk density of AAAC and thermal conductivity

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Figure 9 Relationship between percentage of air void fraction and thermal conductivity

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Area 1
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(a) WGP=80%, MSWIBA = 20% (b) WGP=80%, MSWIBA = 20%

7 curing days 28 curing days
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Area 4
Area 3
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(c) WGP=20%, MSWIBA = 80% (d) WGP=20%, MSWIBA = 80%

7 curing days 28 curing days

Figure 10 BSE images of alkali-activated MSWIBA-WGP mixtures cured for 7 and 28 days

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