EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON SUITABILITY OF USING REDMUD AND

GGBS IN THE PRODUCTION OF GEOPLYMER MASONRY BRICKS

Under the guidance of By

Prof. SOWMYASHREE.T Avinash H 1VJ14CV
401
Nechi Tana 1VJ14CV 405
Vikash Kumar 1VJ14CV408
Wrishov Nandan 1VJ14CV409
 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION

LITERATURE REVIEW

OBJECTIVES

PROBLEM CONTEXT

MATERIALS

METHODOLOGY

POSSIBLE OUTCOMES

REFERENCES
 INTRODUCTION
The wastes which posses alumina and silicate and which can readily react with
alkaline solution lead us to the new green technological process named as geo
polymerization. India is the second largest producer of bricks in the world

Geopolymers are inorganic, typically ceramic, materials that form long-range,

covalently bonded, non-crystalline (amorphous) networks.

The huge demand from housing industry due to population explosion has entailed
the need for sustainable building materials especially bricks. Researchers have tried
to incorporate fly ash, Ground Granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), lime stone
dust, rice husk ash, welding flux slag and other waste products into bricks so as to
improve its sustainability .
.
 The term Geopolymer was first termed and research related to Geopolymer was
initially done by Joseph Davidoivits. It is a new innovative method. These are
formed by alkaline activation of alumina silicate materials. They are formed when
source material is activated with alkaline solution develops high mechanical strength
initial stages only.
Liquids such as sodium or potassium hydroxide and sodium or potassium silicate
solution (aqueous solution) are referred as alkaline liquids in which raw materials
which contain alumina silicate undergo reaction.

It leads to utilization of construction materials such as bricks, blocks which uses materials
such as cement, clay, sand etc. These traditional materials are being utilized necessary
measures should be considered to replace these traditional materials so that they are available
in future. Industrial wastes such as fly ash, ggbs, gbs etc are used as alternative material for
these traditional materials. For the present investigation fly ash, red mud and micro silica are
being used as binder material in production of bricks.
 LITERATURE REVIEW
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
Claude Boutterin and Joseph Davidovits (1982). They have given the presentation of the chemical

principle governing the low temperature Geopolymeric setting Geopolymeric cross-linking with the main

mineralogical components of soil, earths and clays for rational use of lateritic materials. Several tests were

carried out with African soils of various original, but the standardization of the process was made by using a

material extracted in province, France . The result of this experiment indicated that, the compressive

strength after 4 days immersion in water losses approximately 30% of compressive strength to dry value.

Davidovits J (1999): He presented the study that the polymers during its formation releases water as by-

product. The water thus released during the chemical reaction helps in increasing the workability of the

mix and therefore plays no role in the chemical reaction that takes place.
 Paloma A (1999): They have reported that during curing and drying period of the geopolymer, the
discontinuous Nano pores are formed which are responsible for better performance of material.

Radhakrishna (2008): They studied the phenomenological model of geopolymer compressed

blocks. From the result it is observed that the quality of fly ash, binder to aggregate ratio , molarity
of the activator solution , fine aggregate type , curing conditions influence the strength development
in geopolymer compresses blocks.
 Rangan B.V (2008): He formed that there are two constituents of geopolymers, namely the source
materials and the alkaline liquids . The source material for geopolymers based on aluminosilicate
should rich in solution (Si) and aluminium (Al) . These could be natural minerals such as
kaolinite ,clay etc. Alternatively, by product materials such as fly ash , silica fume, slag, rice husk ,
red mud etc., could be used as source materials. The concentration of sodium hydroxide solution can
vary in the range between 8M and 16M. However , 8M solution is adequate for most application .

Hamid Bahlooli(2012): They studied the compressive strength of polymer specimens which
depends on the particle size distribution pattern of the ashes, time of oven curing and the time of
room condition curing. The finer the ashes particle size results in the denser and hence the stronger
specimen. On the other hand, oven curing of the specimen at 80 c was found to be the optimum
temperature of curing in geopolymeric specimens.
 OBJECTIVES

To check suitability of using GGBS & Red mud in Geopolymer masonry production blocks.

To determine Compressive strength & water absorption for bricks.

To find the optimum proportion of GGBS & Red mud in Geopolymer masonry blocks production.

To Determine the strength property of Geopolymer Masonry Block made Using GGBS & Red mud
combination.

Compare Red Mud with GGBS masonry bricks with normal bricks.
 PROBLEM CONTEXT

The huge demand from housing industry due to population explosion has entailed the need for
sustainable building materials especially bricks. We have tried to incorporate ground granulated blast
furnace slag (GGBS), lime stone dust, rice husk ash, welding flux slag and other waste products into
bricks so as to improve its sustainability . An interesting area of research which has attracted interest of
many scholars is Geopolymer binder which utilizes industrial waste products to form sustainable green
binders. As per TERI (2001) report, India produces more than 1400 billion bricks per year using 350
million tons of top soil by burning 24 million tons of coal thereby emitting 42 million tons of CO2.
Therefore using waste products in bricks production not only solves the problem of disposing this waste
products but also preserve natural resources.
PROBLEM DEFINITION

In the present study redmud and GGBS are used in the

production of geopolymer masonry bricks with varying percentage
with chemical activators. Produced bricks are cured and
characterized based on strength properties. The results obtained are
then compared with conventional bricks.
 MATERIALS

Red mud :

Red Mud is a solid waste residue which is obtained by

extracting aluminium from bauxite ore. Bauxite Reserves
present around the world is around 3 million tonnes out of 65
million tonnes globally. Around 5.8 million tonnes of
aluminium is generated annually all over the world. For the
present investigation red mud is procured from Hindalco,
Belgaum..
GGBS (GROUND GRANULATED BLAST FURNACE SLAG)

Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) produced by

grinding of blast furnace slag available in steel plants . Ground-
granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS or GGBFS) is obtained by
quenching molten iron slag (a by-product of iron and steel-making)
from a blast furnace in water or steam, to produce a glassy, granular
product that is then dried and ground into a fine powder
Sodium hydroxide :

Sodium hydroxide available is in the form of flakes with

97% purity. Sodium hydroxide used for calculating quantity is
around 2.5.
Sodium silicate :

For the present study commercially available sodium silicate

solution was used. It will be obtained from Chemists &
Druggists. The ratio of sodium silicate used for calculating
quantity is around 2.5
 METHODOLOGY
Procurement of raw materials such as reduced flash , sodium silicate & Sodium hydroxide.

Characteristics of raw materials

Selecting different mix proportions raw material to produce geopolymer masonry blocks.

Conducting flowability test solution requirement of the mix proportions.

Producing Geopolymer masonry blocks of size 70 x 70 x 70mm to find compressible

strength & water absorption.
Producing masonry bricks of size 190 x 90 x 90mm for the optimum mix proportion.

To determine Compressive strength & water absorption for bricks.

Comparing the obtained results with common bricks.

Draw down the conclusions.

 POSSIBLE OUTCOMES
Suitability of using GGBS & red mud in Geopolymer masonry blocks
production can be checked.

Optimum percentage of mixed proportion can be obtained to produce

Geopolymer Bricks.

Produced Geopolymer masonry blocks properties can be compared with

conventional bricks & conclusions can be drawn for the application of GP
bricks.
 REFERENCES
1. Davidovits J, (1999), Chemistry of Geopolymeric System , Terminology, Geopolymers 99
International Conference , France.

2. Palomo.A, Grutzeck M. Wand Blanco M.T (1999), Alkali-Activated Fly Asher's. Cement for the
future , Cement and concrete Research 29(8):1323-1329.

3. Rangan B.V, (2008), Low Calcium Fly ash based Geopolymer concrete", Chapter 26 in concrete
construction Engineering. Handbook ,Editor in chief E.G Navy, 2 nd edition, CRC Press, New York.

4. Qhatani Mohsen, Nasser Yussef Mostafa, (2010), Investigating the possibility of utilizing low
kaolinitic clays in production of geopolyer bricksceramics-silikaty 54(2)160-168.
THANK YOU