Journal article
High strength/density ratio in a syntactic foam made from one-part mix geopolymer and cenospheres
A Hajimohammadi, T Ngo, JL Provis, T Kim, J Vongsvivut
Composites Part B: Engineering | Elsevier Ltd | Published : 2019
Abstract
By designing a composite of one-part mix geopolymer and hollow cenospheres, a commercially viable and environmentally-friendly foam was synthesised with a high strength/density ratio. The composite is made of a dry mix powder of geopolymer source materials, sodium silicate alkali activator and cenospheres, which starts to react when mixed with water. As the geopolymer reacts and gains strength over time, the surface of the cenospheres takes part in the reaction and forms a strong bond with the binding matrix. Synchrotron-based Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy revealed, for the first time, the chemical bonding interaction of the amorphous interfacial layer between the geopolymer a..
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Grants
Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the ARC Training Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing [Grant ID: IC150100023], and in part by Australian Research Council Linkage Grant [Grant ID: LP140100504]. The authors would like to acknowledge Melbourne School of Engineering for the “International Research Fellowship for Female Academics” that facilitated Dr Hajimohammadi’s research visit to the University of Sheffield. This work was performed at the Materials Characterisation and Fabrication Platform (MCFP) at the University of Melbourne and the Victorian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) and in part on the Infrared Microspectroscopy (IRM) beamline at the Australian Synchrotron, part of ANSTO.