Construction and Building Materials 91 (2015) 18

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Construction and Building Materials

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

Effects of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solutions

on compressive and shear bond strengths of FAGBFS geopolymer
Tanakorn Phoo-ngernkham a, Akihiro Maegawa b, Naoki Mishima c, Shigemitsu Hatanaka c,
Prinya Chindaprasirt d,
a

Program in Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Rajamangala University of Technology Isan, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand
Mie Prefecture Industrial Research Institute, Mie 514-0819, Japan
Dept. of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Mie University, Mie 514-8504, Japan
d
Sustainable Infrastructure Research and Development Center, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
b
c

h i g h l i g h t s
 FAGBFS geopolymer activated with sodium silicate (cured at 23 C) resulted mainly in amorphous gel.
 Activated with sodium hydroxide resulted in signicant crystalline CSH.
 Incorporation of GBFS enhanced compressive strength and microstructure of FA geopolymer pastes.
 Shear bond strength depended on strength and amount of NASH gel of FAGBFS geopolymer.

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 27 December 2014
Received in revised form 16 March 2015
Accepted 1 May 2015
Available online 16 May 2015
Keywords:
Geopolymer
Granulated blast furnace slag
Fly ash
Compressive strength
Shear bond strength
Repair material

a b s t r a c t
This article investigated the effects of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solutions on the properties
of y ash (FA)granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) geopolymer. Three types of geopolymer pastes viz., FA
paste, FA + GGBS paste and GGBS paste were tested. They were activated with three types of alkaline
solutions viz., sodium hydroxide solution (NH), sodium silicate solution (NS), and sodium hydroxide plus
sodium silicate solution (NHNS). NH with 10 molar concentration, alkaline liquid/binder ratio of 0.60 and
curing at ambient temperature of 23 C were used for all mixes. The results indicated that the reaction
products and strengths of geopolymer depended on the types of source materials and alkali activators.
The use of NH and NHNS solutions resulted in the formation of crystalline calcium silicate hydrate
(CSH) which co-existed with amorphous gel. Whereas the use of NS solution resulted in mainly the
amorphous products with only a small amount of crystalline CSH in GBFS paste. The increase in GBFS
content enhanced the compressive strength and microstructure of geopolymer pastes due to the
formation of additional CSH. The shear bond strength between Portland cement concrete substrate and
geopolymer paste was found to relate to both compressive strength and amount of NASH gel of geopolymer paste.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The manufacturing of Portland cement (OPC) results in high
emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) to atmosphere causing greenhouse effect [1]. To solve this problem, the use of geopolymer as
an alternative binder for application in concrete industry is recommended [25]. Geopolymeric material is formed using source
materials containing silica (SiO2) and alumina (Al2O3) such as y

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +66 4320 2355.

E-mail address: prinya@kku.ac.th (P. Chindaprasirt).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.05.001
0950-0618/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ash (FA), calcined kaolin or metakaolin and granulated blast

furnace slag (GBFS) activated with alkali solutions [610].
Specically, sodium hydroxide based geopolymer is more attractive as it gives lower carbon footprint than sodium silicate based
geopolymer. For normal strength concrete, Turner and Collins
[11] showed that the CO2 footprint of a sodium silicate based
geopolymer concrete was approximately 9% less than comparable
OPC concrete.
Fly ash is a by-product from coal burning in thermal power
plants. Both low calcium y ash [6,12] and high calcium y ash
[8,13] are suitable source materials due to their high SiO2 and
Al2O3 contents. One obstacle with the use of y ash is the low

T. Phoo-ngernkham et al. / Construction and Building Materials 91 (2015) 18

strength development with ambient temperature curing [6]. A

number of researchers [1416] have incorporated additives containing calcium to enhance the strength development of y ash
geopolymer. The presence of calcium has a positive effect on the
mechanical properties of geopolymeric material [9] by forming
additional calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) which coexists with the
geopolymer products [17,18]. However, a certain amount of calcium can lead to a decrease on compressive strength of geopolymers [19,20]. Pacheco-Torgal et al. [21] reported that when
calcium hydroxide percentages above 10% are used, strength
decrease after curing for 14 days is noticed.
GBFS is usually utilized as a binder in concrete industry due to
its high content of CaO; and SiO2 and Al2O3 in an amorphous state
[22,23]. Therefore GBFS shows pozzolanic and binding properties
in an alkaline medium [24]. A number of researchers [6,24,25]
found that the incorporation of GBFS to FA geopolymer resulted
in additional calcium in the system and the mechanical properties
and microstructure of geopolymer were improved.
Several researchers indicate that sodium silicate and sodium
hydroxide based activators are suitable considering the mechanical
properties of GBFS and FA geopolymers [6,25,26]. The main reaction products formed as a result of alkali activation of GBFS are
CSH and/or CASH gels similar to those of PC [27], whereas the main
product of alkali activation of FA is NASH gel [28]. As GBFS is a
glassy phase material, it is, therefore, easier to activate than y
ash. Fly ash contains a larger portion of crystalline phase and usually requires temperature between 40 and 85 C to accelerate the
reaction [24]. Previous studies suggested that the incorporation
of GBFS results in the enhancement of strength development of
y ash geopolymers [29,30]. Bond strength is one of the most
important properties of high performance binder for application
as a repair material. Several tests i.e. pull-out, splitting, exural,
and slant shear are used to evaluate the bond strength of repair
materials [3]. The slant shear test was successfully used to study
the shear bond strength of concrete repair [31] and bond between
concrete substrate and geopolymer [3,4].
Therefore, the use of GBFS to improve the strength of FA
geopolymer is very attractive. The objective of this study is to
investigate the mechanical properties viz., compressive strength
and shear bond strength, and microstructure of FAGBFS geopolymer with types of alkaline solutions. The obtained results should
be benecial to the understanding and to the future applications
of FAGBFS geopolymer.
2. Experimental details and testing analysis
2.1. Materials
The materials used in this research were y ash (FA) from Hekinan power plant
and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) from Nippon Steel & Sumitomo
Metal Corporation. 10 M sodium hydroxide (NH) and sodium silicate (NS) with
11.67% Na2O, 28.66% SiO2, and 59.67% H2O were used as activators.
The chemical compositions and physical properties of FA and GBFS are shown in
Tables 1 and 2. The specic gravity of FA and GBFS were 2.20 and 2.91. The median
particle sizes of FA and GBFS were 12.3 and 12.4 lm with the corresponding Blaine
nenesses of 3100 and 4950 cm2/g, respectively. Fig. 1 shows the scanning electron
micrographs (SEM) of FA and GBFS. The FA consisted of spherical particles with
smooth surface, while the GBFS consisted of irregular and angular particles similar
to the previously published results [32]. The XRDs of FA and GBFS as shown in Fig. 2
showed that as-received FA mainly consisted of amorphous phase as shown by a
hump around 1828 2theta with some crystalline phases of mullite (Al6Si2O13),

Table 2
Physical properties of FA and GBFS.
Materials

Specic gravity

Median particle
size (lm)

Blaine neness
(cm2/g)

FA
GBFS

2.20
2.91

12.3
12.4

3100
4950

(a) FA

(b) GBFS
Fig. 1. SEM of FA and GBFS.

quartz (SiO2), magnesioferrite (Fe3O4) and calcium oxide (CaO), while as-received
GBFS mainly consisted of amorphous phase as shown by a hump around 2535 2theta [27] with a small amount of magnetite.
2.2. Mix proportion and curing
The mix proportions of geopolymer pastes are shown in Table 3. Constant liquid
alkaline to binder ratio of 0.60 was used for all mixes. Three types of geopolymer
pastes viz., FA paste, FA + GGBS paste and GGBS paste and three types of alkaline
solutions viz., sodium hydroxide solution (NH), sodium silicate solution (NS), and
sodium hydroxide plus sodium silicate solution (NHNS) were used. The NHNS solution was prepared with NS/NH ratio of 2.0. For the other series the NH and NS solutions were used directly. For the mixing of pastes, FA and GBFS were dry mixed until
the mixture was homogenous. Right after, the liquid solution was added and the
mixing of paste was done for another 3 min.
2.3. Testing and analysis
2.3.1. Compressive strength of geopolymer pastes
After being mixed, the fresh geopolymer pastes were placed into cylindrical
moulds of 50 mm in diameter and 100 mm in height. They were covered with vinyl
sheet and placed in ambient temperature curing (23 C). The samples were
demoulded at the age of 1 day and immediately wrapped with vinyl sheet to protect
moisture loss and kept in the 23 C controlled room until the testing age. The compressive strengths were tested at the ages of 7, 28, and 60 days. The reported results
were the average of three samples.
2.3.2. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of geopolymer
pastes
At the age of 28 days, the geopolymer paste samples were broken and the middle portion was collected and ground to ne powder. The XRD scans were performed at 560 2theta with an increment of 0.02/step and a scan speed of
0.5 s/step. The amorphous phases of geopolymer pastes were determined by quantitative XRD analysis using Brukers TOPAS software. The specimen was placed on a
brass stub sample holder with double stick carbon tape. The specimen was dried
using infrared light for 5 min and then coated with a layer of gold using a blazer
sputtering coater. The micrographs were recorded at 20 kV and 1000
magnication.
2.3.3. Shear bond strength between concrete substrate and geopolymer paste
The shear bond strength was evaluated using the slant shear test of concrete
substrate and geopolymer paste. The slant angle of 30 to the vertical is recommended by ASTM C882 [33] because the failure stress is close to the minimum
stress [31]. However, stiffer angle of 45 is also ofcially used for the standard

Table 1
Chemical compositions of FA and GBFS (by weight).
Materials

SiO2

Al2O3

Fe2O3

CaO

MgO

K2O

Na2O

SO3

LOI

FA
GBFS

52.31
30.53

27.04
13.67

6.85
0.33

3.32
46.00

1.23
5.09

1.29
0.36

1.15
0.24

0.99

1.60
0.22

T. Phoo-ngernkham et al. / Construction and Building Materials 91 (2015) 18

Intensity (counts)

M
M

FA
MM
GBFS

F
Q

QC

Q
Q

10

20

30

40

50

60

2 theta (degree)

Q = Quartz (SiO2), M = Mullite (Al6Si2O13), C = Calcium oxide (CaO), F = Magnetite (Fe3O4)

Fig. 2. XRD of FA and GBFS.

Table 3
Mix proportions of geopolymer pastes.
Mix No.

Source material

Activator

FA (g)

GBFS (g)

NaOH (g)

Na2SiO3 (g)

SiO2/Al2O3 ratio

CaO/SiO2 ratio

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

FA
FA + GBFS
GBFS
FA
FA + GBFS
GBFS
FA
FA + GBFS
GBFS

NH
NH
NH
NHNS
NHNS
NHNS
NS
NS
NS

100
50

100
50

100
50

50
100

50
100

50
100

60
60
60
20
20
20

40
40
40
60
60
60

1.94
2.04
2.23
2.36
2.56
3.07
2.57
2.88
3.49

0.06
0.60
1.51
0.05
0.47
1.10
0.05
0.42
0.96

evaluation of epoxy bond with concrete [34]. Preliminary test showed that the 45
concrete substrate was easier to cut with less chipping and cracking than the 30
concrete substrate. The slant angle of 45 was, therefore, used in this study. The
results could be compared within the context of this work and the results should
thus be interpreted with care.
The preparations of concrete specimens and the casting of slant shear specimens were based on the previous study [3,4]. The concrete substrates were prepared using the aged slant shear concrete prisms by cutting in half at 45 line to
the vertical. The saw cut surface was used as it was shown to be suitable substrate
concrete surface for shear bond strength assessment [35]. The compressive strength
of concrete substrate was 35.0 MPa. The paste was then cast into the mold with the
other half lled with concrete substrate. After the casting of samples, they were
covered with vinyl sheet to protect moisture loss and kept in the 23 C controlled
room until the testing ages. The shear bond strength was calculated as the ratio
of maximum load at failure and the bond area. The shear bond strength was measured at the age of 28 days with a constant loading rate of 0.30 MPa/s. The reported
results were the average of three samples.
In addition, two available commercial repair material products (Epoxy A and
Epoxy B) were tested for shear bond strengths with concrete substrate and
compared with those of geopolymer pastes. Epoxy A was a general purpose
non-shrink grout mortar and Epoxy B was a multi-purpose non-shrink grout. The
recommended water to binder ratio of 0.15 was used for Epoxy-A and the 28-day
compressive strength was 62.0 MPa. For Epoxy-B, the recommended water to
binder ratio of 0.14 was used and the 28-day compressive strength was 70.0 MPa.
The preparation of the slant shear prism was the same as those of the geopolymer
slant shear test.

3. Results and discussions

3.1. Compressive strength
The results of compressive strengths of geopolymer pastes are
shown in Table 4. The compressive strength of pastes obviously
increased with increasing GBFS content for all NH, NHNS and NS

Table 4
Compressive strength of geopolymer pastes.
Mix No.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Source material

FA
FA + GBFS
GBFS
FA
FA + GBFS
GBFS
FA
FA + GBFS
GBFS

Activator

NH
NH
NH
NHNS
NHNS
NHNS
NS
NS
NS

Compressive strength (MPa)

7 days

28 days

60 days

0
6.5
15.5
0
84.9
144.4
0
38.7
119.6

1.5
18.3
27.1
42.8
114.5
171.7
0
54.9
173.0

4.4
26.2
34.4
52.9
127.2
176.4
1.1
62.4
197.1

0 = very low strength.

series. For example, the 28-days compressive strengths of FA,

FA + GBFS and GBFS pastes with NHNS were 42.8, 114.5, and
171.7 MPa, respectively. The readily available free calcium ions
reacted with silica and alumina and formed C(A)SH gel which
coexisted with the geopolymer gels [27,36]. In addition, the reaction of GBFS and alkali solutions was an exothermal process and
generated heat which promoted the geopolymerization process.
The increase in GBFS content, therefore, led to high compressive
strength geopolymer pastes.
According to Table 4, the mixes with 100% FA gave low early
strengths for all NH, NHNS and NS series. The NH solution is important for dissolving of Si4+ and Al3+ ions from raw materials and subsequent geopolymerization process [17]. However, the strength
development of FA paste activated by either NH or NS at ambient

T. Phoo-ngernkham et al. / Construction and Building Materials 91 (2015) 18

temperature was very low [17,37]. The use of NHNS showed significant improvement in the strength development at later ages. For
the FA paste with NHNS, although the 7-day compressive strength
was very low, the 28-day and 60-day compressive strengths were
relatively high at 45.0 and 52.9 MPa, respectively. The low strength
at early stage of FA paste was due to low reaction process at ambient temperature, however, the strength development of FA paste
over time is similar to that of Portland cement concrete [15].
For the mix with increased GBFS content (FA + GBFS paste), the
paste with NH gave lower strength than those with NHNS and NS.
As mentioned, NaOH is needed for the leaching of silica and alumina. However, the leaching and subsequent reaction is low at
ambient temperature around 23 C [38]. The use of NS alone or
in conjunction with NH resulted in additional silicate in the system
and this helped speed up the geopolymerization leading to
increased compressive strength [26]. In addition, the FA + GBFS
paste with NHNS showed higher strength than those of NH and
NS for all of curing age. The FA + GBFS blend with NHNS was the
most effective alkali activated binder and high strength mixes were
obtained. Similarly, high strength mixes were also reported with
the GBFS geopolymer with sodium sulfate [39].
For the GBFS paste, the paste with NS showed the highest compressive strength at the ages of 28 and 60 days due to the reaction
between CaO from GBFS and SiO2 with subsequent formation of
CSH [27]. Ismail et al. [27] reported that the alkali activation of
GBFS involved the dissolution of Ca and participation of Si and Al
to form CSH and CASH gel and thus led to high mechanical
strength. Furthermore, the compressive strength of geopolymer
depends primarily on SiO2/Al2O3 mole ratio [40]. Previous research
reported that SiO2/Al2O3 around 3.50 gave a high strength high calcium geopolymer [41]. It should be noted here that the SiO2/Al2O3
ratio of GBFS paste with NS was 3.49 (see Table 3). The 28-day
compressive strength of this paste cured at ambient temperature
was very high at 171.7 MPa.

mainly from the remain of non-reacted elements from FA. The

presence of sodium alumino-silicate zeolite in the form of hydrosodalite indicated some geopolymerization, but the strength of
geopolymer paste was still low [17]. For the mix with increased
GBFS content (FA + GBFS paste), the XRD pattern of paste with
NH showed both amorphous and crystalline phases. The peak of
the crystalline phases viz., quartz, mullite, magnetite and hydrosodalite were reduced and additional peak of calcium silicate hydrate
(CSH) was present. This indicated the reaction of calcium to form
CSH and also the presence of NASH gel with reduced hydrosodalite
resulting in an increase in the strength of paste. For the GBFS paste
with NH, the major phase of paste was amorphous with additional
CSH and calcite with no appearances of quartz, mullite, magnetite
and hydrosodalite. The high CaO content contributed to the development of CSH and the excess CaO reacted with CO2 and formed
calcite [9]. The CSH gel and calcite coexisted with the NASH gel
[27] and reasonable 28-days compressive strength of 27.1 MPa
was obtained.
For the NHNS mixes as shown in Fig. 4, the FA paste consisted of
glassy phase as indicated by the hump at 2835 2theta and the
crystalline phases of quartz, mullite and magnetite with no
hydrosodalite. The strength came mainly from the NASH gel and
relatively high 28-days strength of 42.8 MPa was obtained. For
the FA + GBFS paste with NHNS, additional CSH was formed with
reduced amount of quartz and mullite. Additional CSH was responsible for the increase in strength and the high 28-days compressive
strength of 114.5 MPa was obtained. For the GBFS paste with
NHNS, the XRD pattern showed a large amount of amorphous
phase with additional CSH and only a small amount of magnetite
(from GBFS). With only GBFS, the amorphous phases were easily
detected as broad hump around 2835 2theta due to the formation of amorphous components in geopolymer gel. Calcium element also reacted to form CSH which coexisted with geopolymer
gel [27] and high 28-days compressive strength of 171.7 MPa
was obtained. The presence of CSH and relatively high compressive
strength is in line with the previous research [6]. For mixes with
NSNH, the incorporation of GBFS provided calcium to react and
form CSH in the geopolymer system. Without GBFS, there was
insufcient calcium and no CSH was, therefore, detected similar
to the mixes with NH solution only.
For the NS mix as shown in Fig. 5, the XRD of FA paste showed
the amorphous phase of NASH gel with hump around

3.2. XRD analysis

The results of XRD patterns of geopolymer pastes are shown in
Figs. 35. As shown in Fig. 3 for the NH series, the FA paste consisted of glassy phase as indicated by the hump at 2835 2theta
[41] and crystalline phases of quartz, mullite, magnetite and
hydrosodalite (Na4Al3Si3O12(OH)). These crystalline phases were

GBFS with NH
C

S
C
Intensity (counts)

FA+GBFS with NH
H M

Q
S
HM

F M
M

H
FA with NH

QM Q

M M

M
Q

10

20

HM
M
F

30

40

50

60

2 theta (degree)
Q = Quartz (SiO2), M = Mullite (Al6Si2O13), H = Hydrosodalite (Na4Al3Si3O12(OH)), F=Magnetite (Fe3O4),
C= Calcite, S= Calcium Silicate Hydrate
Fig. 3. XRD of geopolymer pastes with NH.

T. Phoo-ngernkham et al. / Construction and Building Materials 91 (2015) 18

GBFS with NHNS

S
F
Intensity (counts)

FA+GBFS with NHNS

M

Q
S

M M

FA with NHNS

QM Q

M
M
FM M

M
Q

10

20

30

40

50

60

2 theta (degree)
Q = Quartz (SiO2), M = Mullite (Al6Si2O13), F=Magnetite (Fe3O4), S= Calcium Silicate Hydrate
Fig. 4. XRD of geopolymer pastes with NHNS.

GBFS with NS
S F
Intensity (counts)

FA+GBFS with NS
M

Q
M
M

FM

FA with NS

Q MQ

M
M
FM M

M
Q

10

20

30

40

50

60

2 theta (degree)
Q = Quartz (SiO2), M = Mullite (Al6Si2O13), F=Magnetite (Fe3O4), S= Calcium Silicate Hydrate
Fig. 5. XRD of geopolymer pastes with NS.

1832 2theta with crystal of quartz, mullite and magnetite. With

the incorporation of 50% GBFS (FA + GBFS paste), the paste with NS
showed also amorphous phases, however, with a shift in the location of the hump to a broad hump around 2835 2theta with associated decreases in quartz and mullite peaks. The reductions of
crystalline phase were similar to the behaviors of NHNS paste.
The shift in the broad hump was signicant indicating the
increased disorder of the glass phase and the presence of some
CASH compound [42]. While, the XRD of GBFS paste with NS
indicated the existence of amorphous gel and a small amount of
crystalline CSH with only the crystalline phases of magnetite.
Mixes with NS only should also have a high pH condition initially,
therefore a small amount of crystalline CSH could thus be formed
[43]. The lowering of pH condition in the mix favored the formation of the NASH gel [41] while the crystalline phase of magnetite
from GBFS remained. This resulted in high 28-day compressive
strength of GBFS paste with NS of 173.0 MPa.

3.3. SEM analysis

The results of SEM analyses of fracture surfaces of geopolymer
pastes are shown in Fig. 6. In general, the FA pastes had rather
loose matrix as shown in Fig. 6a, d and g. The FA pastes with NH
and NS showed less dense and loose matrix while the SEM of FA
paste with NHNS showed a larger number of non-reacted and/or
partially reacted y ash particles embedded in a continuous
matrix. The FA paste with NHNS appeared to be slightly denser
than those NH and NS. This is in line with the previous research
which indicated that the use of NH in conjunction with NS could
accelerate the geopolymerization process [38].
Noticeable difference was found with the FA + GBFS mix compared to that of FA paste. The micrograph showed less number of
unreacted y ash particles and the matrices appeared denser than
those of FA pastes. FA is relatively slow to react at ambient temperature and temperature curing is needed to accelerate the strength

T. Phoo-ngernkham et al. / Construction and Building Materials 91 (2015) 18

Fig. 6. SEM of geopolymer pastes.

40

Shear bond strength (MPa)

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
NA

Epoxy B

Epoxy A

GBFS with NS

FA+GBFS with NS

FA with NS

GBFS with NHNS

FA+GBFS with NHNS

FA with NHNS

GBFS with NH

FA+GBFS with NH

FA with NH

development [44,45]. The increasing in GBFS content enhanced the

reaction. Also, the reaction of GBFS with alkali solution is an
exothermal process and liberated heat and thus formation of additional CSH and CASH led to the overall strength development
[7,27]. According to Fig. 6, the FA + GBFS paste with NHNS
appeared denser than those of with NH and NS. It appeared that
the activation with NHNS solution enhanced the geopolymerization of the FAGBFS geopolymer paste compared with the
activation with single activator as reported by previous research
[46]. The relatively high 28-day strength of 114.5 MPa was
obtained with the FA + GBFS mix with NHNS.
For the GBFS mix, the matrix appeared denser and more
homogenous than the pastes with 50% and 0% GBFS. As mentioned,
additional CSH from the reaction of GBFS and alkali solution was
formed [27]. This additional CSH modify the microstructure of
paste. In addition, mixes with sodium silicate i.e. pastes with
NHNS (see Fig. 6f) and NS (see Fig. 6i) appeared denser than the
mix with NH (see Fig. 6c). The silicate in the system promoted
the reaction between calcium and silicate and formed calcium silicate products.

Fig. 7. Shear bond strength between concrete substrate and geopolymer paste or
epoxy with interface line at 45 to the vertical.

3.4. Shear bond strength between concrete substrate and geopolymer

pastes
The results of slant shear capacity of Portland cement concrete
substrate (compressive strength of 35 MPa) and geopolymer paste
at 45 of interface line to the vertical are shown in Fig. 7. The shear

bond strengths tended to increase with the increasing GBFS content for all three series.
For the NH series, the strengths increased with increasing GBFS
content. The shear bond strengths of FA, FA + GBFS and GBFS pastes

T. Phoo-ngernkham et al. / Construction and Building Materials 91 (2015) 18

Fig. 8. Specimen failure modes.

were 3.0, 7.0 and 12.0 MPa, respectively. The increase in shear
bond strength was directly related to the increase in compressive
strength of geopolymer paste. It had been reported that the tensile
strength and bonding of geopolymer were higher than those of
conventional Portland cement system [47]. In addition, the high
CaO content from GBFS promoted the formation of additional
CSH and/or CASH gel, therefore, the bonding at the interface transition zone between old concrete and geopolymer was enhanced
[3,4].
For the NS series, the compressive strength tended to increase
with the increase in GBFS content. However, the shear bond
strength at high 100% GBFS content (GBFS paste with NS) started
to drop compared with that of 50% GBFS mix (FA + GBFS paste with
NS). For the FA + GBFS mix, the paste contained predominantly
NASH gel with some CSH/CASH products. At high 100% GBFS content, with the presence of a large amount of calcium, CSH and/or
CASH gel formed in a substantial quantity in addition to NASH
gel. This is considered somehow offsetting the excellent bonding
behavior resulting in a slight drop in the shear bond strength at
this high level of GBFS content. It is worth mentioning that the
shear bond strength does not only depend on the strength of
geopolymer, the strength of a weaker portion i.e. concrete
substrate also has a large inuence.
For the NHNS series, the trend of the result was similar to those
of NS series. The optimum shear bond strength was obtained with
the 50% GBFS content mix, and at high 100% GBFS content, the
bond strengths were slightly lowered. However, the shear bond
strengths of this series were higher than those of the other series.
The high shear bond strengths generally corresponded to the high
compressive strengths of geopolymer pastes.
The shear bond strengths of two available commercial repair
material products (Epoxy A and Epoxy B) and concrete substrate
are also shown in Fig. 7. The shear bond strength between concrete
substrate and Epoxy A and Epoxy B were 20.6 and 26.2 MPa,
respectively. The shear bond strengths of 5 mixes i.e. all three
NHNS mixes viz., FA, FA + GBFS and GBFS pastes with NHNS; and
the other two NS mixes viz., FA + GBFS and GBFS with NS were
comparable to those of the epoxy mixes. This indicated that the
FAGBFS geopolymer pastes should be look into more extensively
for the application as repair materials.
The failure patterns of the concrete sample and samples from
the shear bond tests (slant angle of 45) are given in Fig. 8. The failure pattern of concrete sample was in a monolithic failure mode
(Fig. 8a). For the high shear bond strength of FA + GBFS paste with
NHNS (Fig. 8b), the monolithic failure mode was also observed.
Namely, the geopolymer and concrete substrate acted as one unit
and the crack formed and run in the vertical direction passed

through the slant bond area similar to the failure mode of normal
concrete specimen (Fig. 8a). This conrmed the excellent bonding
between geopolymer and concrete substrate. The failure patterns
of FA paste with NS, Epoxy A and Epoxy B are shown in Figs. 8c
e. The failure modes were similar and were between the combined
failure with monolithic failure and bond failure. Crack path covered the concrete substrate, bonding surface and geopolymer
paste. This was considered due to the similar shear bond strengths
of the FA paste with NS and the two epoxy samples (Fig. 7). The
results in Figs. 7 and 8 thus indicated the suitability of the
FA + GBFS mix with NHNS for high shear bond strength
requirement.
The 28-day shear bond strengths of usable geopolymer pastes
obtained from this work were approximately 2131 MPa which
were higher than the previously published results [3]. This was
due to the use of slant angle of 45 to the vertical in this study compared to 30 in the previous work. Similar trend of result was
reported in the previously published work [31].

4. Conclusions
The effect of using sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solutions as liquid portions in the mixture on properties of FAGBFS
geopolymer was investigated in this study. The FA paste contains
amorphous NASH gel and some crystalline phases of the remain
of y ash. The increase in GBFS content enhanced the compressive
strength and microstructure of geopolymer pastes due to the formation of additional CSH. The use of NH and NHNS solutions
resulted in crystalline CSH and amorphous gel, whereas the use
of NS solution resulted in mainly the amorphous products.
For the FA and FA + GBFS pastes, the use of NH solution or NS
solution alone gave low strengths when cured at ambient temperature. Better strength development was obtained with the use of
NHNS solution. For the GBFS paste, the presence of silicate
enhanced the strength development and thus pastes containing
NS solution performed better. Relatively high 28-day compressive
strengths of 171.7 and 173.0 MPa were obtained for GBFS pastes
with NHNS and NS solutions, respectively.
The shear bond strength (slant angle of 45) between concrete
substrate and geopolymer paste was increased with the increase
in compressive strength and amount of NASH gel of geopolymer
paste. The highest 28-day shear bond strength of 31.0 MPa was
obtained with FA + GBFS paste with NHNS solution. This indicates
that it may be possible to use FAGBFS geopolymer pastes as a
repair material. However, additional tests are required to conrm
this.

T. Phoo-ngernkham et al. / Construction and Building Materials 91 (2015) 18

Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the nancial supported
from Higher Education Research Promotion and National
Research University Project of Thailand, Ofce of the Higher
Education Commission, through the Advanced Functional
Materials Cluster of Khon Kaen University; Khon Kaen University
and the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) under the TRF Senior
Research Scholar, Grant No. RTA5780004. The authors also would
like to acknowledge the support of the Mie Prefecture Industrial
Research Institute and Department of Architecture, Faculty of
Engineering, Mie University, Japan.
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