• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.213-228
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• 2014

Alkali-activated binder (AAB) is recently being considered as a sustainable alternative to portland cement (PC) due to its low carbon dioxide emission and diversion of industrial wastes and by-products such as fly ash and slag from landfills. In order to comprehend the behavior of AAB, detailed knowledge on relations between microstructure and mechanical properties are important. To address the issue, a new approach to characterize hardened pastes of AAB containing fly ash as well as those containing fly ash and slag was adopted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectra microanalyses. The volume stoichiometries of the alkali activation reactions were used to estimate the quantities of the sodium aluminosilicate (N-A-S-H) and calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) produced by these reactions. The 3D plots of Si/Al, Na/Al and Ca/Si atom ratios given by the microanalyses were compared with the estimated quantities of CSH(S) to successfully determine the unique chemical compositions of the N-A-S-H and CSH(S) for ten different AAB at three different curing temperatures using a constrained nonlinear least squares optimization formulation by general algebraic modeling system. The results show that the theoretical and experimental quantities of N-A-S-H and CSH(S) were in close agreement with each other. The $R^2$ values were 0.99 for both alkali-activated fly ash and alkali-activated slag binders.

• Magazine of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.42-48
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• 2007

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.6 s.84
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• pp.751-757
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• 2004

Artificial lightweight aggregates and solids were manufactured with coal ash(fly ash, bottom ash). In order to apply alkali-activated coal ash(fly ash, bottom ash) artificial lightweight aggregate to concrete, several experimental studies were performed. Thus, it can be noticed the optimal mix proportion, basic characteristies, mechanical properties and environmental safety of alkali-activated coal ash(fly ash, bottom ash) solid and alkali-activated coal ash(fly ash, bottom ash) artificial lightweight aggregate. Also, the freezing-thawing test property of concrete using the alkali-activated coal ash(fly ash, bottom ash) artificial lightweight aggregate was investigated. As a result, the optimal mixing proportion of coal ash(fly ash, bottom ash) solid to make alkali-activated artificial lightweight aggregates was cement $10\%$, water glass $15\%$, NaOH $10\%$, $MnO_2\;5\%$. Alkali-activated coal ash(fly ash, bottom ash) solid can achieve compressive strength of 36.4 MPa, at 7-days, after the paste was cured at air curing after moist curing during 24 hours in $50^{\circ}C$. Alkali-activated coal ash(fly ash, bottom ash) artificial lightweight aggregate that do impregnation to polymer was improved $10\%$ crushing strength $150\%$, and was available to concrete.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.75-84
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• 2016

This paper presents an investigation of the mechanical properties on non-sintered cement pastes immersed in sea waters at three different temperatures. The non-sintered cement pastes were synthesized using blended binder(Class F fly ash; FA and ground granulated blast furnace slag; GGBFS) and alkali activator(sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate). Binders were prepared by mixing the FA and GGBFS in different blend weight ratios of 6:4, 7:3 and 8:2. The alkali activators were used 5wt% of blended binder, respectively. Calcium carbonate was used as an chemical additive. The compressive strength, bulk density and absorption of alkali-activated FA-GGBFS blends pastes were measured at 3 and 28 days after immersed in sea waters at three different temperatures($5^{\circ}C$, $15^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$). The XRD and SEM tests of the pastes were conducted at 28 days. Water-soluble chloride(free chloride) and acid-soluble chloride(total chloride) contents in the pastes were also measured after 28 days immersion in sea water. The experimental results showed that increasing the content of FA in alkali-activated FA-GGBFS blends pastes immersed in sea water increases the absorption, water-soluble chloride content and acid-soluble chloride content, and reduces the compressive strength and bulk density. And it was found that there was a variation of strength change for the alkali-activated FA-GGBFS blends pastes immersed in sea waters at three different temperatures that depends on the blending ratio of FA and GGBFS.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.1005-1008
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to estimate basic mechanical properties of alkali-activated concretes based on GGBS(Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag). In this study, various mix ratios of alkali activated concretes based on sodium silicate and GGBS were set to evaluate concrete's compressive strengths and strains on the basis of results of existing alkali-activated cements and preliminary concrete tests, which were already performed by authors [Ref. 1]. Compressive strengths of concretes of ages 1, 3, 7, 28, 56 and 91 days were tested and investigated, respectively, and at early ages (< 7days) alkali-activated slag concrete (AASC) showed a high strength development, compared to that of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). A compressive strengths of AASC at age-3days range between 18 and 24 MPa, while those of OPC range 12 and 15 MPa. The stress-strain curve after maximum stress, on the other hand, is approximately reached at a compressive strain between 0.002 and 0.0025, which mechanical property is very similar to that of OPC.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.33-39
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• 1999

This study was conducted to confirm the effect of bypass dust on the hydration and mechanical properties of the cement pastes and mortar obtained from ordinary Portland cement (OPC), OPC-slag and OPC-fly ash system. The rate of heat evolution is accelerated with the content of By-pass Dust(BD). total heat evolution increased because alkali-chlorides activated the hydration of blended cement. Compressive strength and bound water content show maximum value at 5wt% By-pass Dust(BD) on each curing time in ordinary Portland cement and slag blended cement. Ca(OH)2 content of Ordinary Portland Cement increased as the content of BD and curing time. In blended cement, the formation of Ca(OH)2 is active at early hydration stage. By pozzolanic reaction, the content of Ca(OH)2 is decreased as curing time goes by. According to the BD content stable chlorides complex of Friedel's salt (C3A·CaCl2·10H2O) is created. Due to the hydration activation effect of chlorides and alkali we observed Type II C-S-H, which developed into densest microstructure.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.305-312
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• 2013

This paper reports the results of an investigation into the effects of silica fume on strength properties of alkali-activated slag cement (AASC) with water-binder (W/B) ratio and replacement ratio of silica fume content. The W/B ratio varied between 0.50 and 0.60 at a constant increment of 0.05. The silica fume content varied from 0% to 50% by weight of slag. The activators was used sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and the dosage of activator was 3M. The strength development with W/B ratio has been studied at different ages of 1, 3, 7 and 28 days. For mixes of AASC mortars with varying silica fume content, the flow values were lower than the control mixes (without silica fume). The flow value was decrease as the content of silica fume increase. This is because the higher surface areas of silica fume particles increase the water requirement. The analysis of these results indicates that, increasing the silica fume content in AASC mortar also increased the compressive strength. Moreover, the strength decreases with the W/B ratios increases. This is because the particle sizes of silica fume are smaller than slag. The high compressive strength of blended slag-silica fume mortars was due to both the filler effect and the activated reaction of silica fume evidently giving the mortar matrix a denser microstructure, thereby resulting in a significant gain in strength.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.39-47
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• 2015

In this study, the properties of strength and drying shrinkage of alkali-activated slag cement (AASC) with magnesium oxide (MgO) contents between 0 and 16 wt% were investigated. The ground granulated furnace blast slag (GGBFS) was activated by potassium hydroxide (KOH) and dosage of activator was 2M and 4M. The MgO was replaced with 2% to 16% of GGBFS by weight. The water-binder ratio (w/b) was 0.5. In the result, the higher MgO content leads to a slightly higher degree of reaction and thus to a higher compressive strength at all ages. The compressive strength and ultra sonic velocity (UPV) increased with increases MgO contents. The drying shrinkage of AASC was decreased as the contents of MgO increases. The results from SEM confirmed that there were densified reaction product of higher MgO content specimens.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.19-28
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• 2010

Attempts to increase the utilization of a by-products such as fly ash and blast furnace slag to partially replace the cement in concrete are gathering momentum. But most of by-products is currently dumped in landfills, thus creating a threat to the environment. Many researches on alkali-activated concrete that does not need the presence of cement as a binder have been carried out recently. However, most study deal only with alkali-activated blast furnace slag or fly ash, as for the combined use of the both, little information is reported. In this study, we investigated the influence of mixture ratio of fly ash/slag, type of alkaline activator and curing condition on the workability and compressive strength of mortar in oder to develop cementless alkali-activated concrete. In view of the results, we found out that the mixture ratio of fly ash/slag and the type of alkaline activator always results to be significant factors. But the influence of curing temperature in the strength development of mortar is lower than the contribution due to other factors. At the age of 28days, the mixture 50% fly ash and 50% slag activated with 1:1 the mass ratio of 9M NaOH and sodium silicate, develop compressive strength of about 65 MPa under $20^{\circ}C$ curing.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.301-307
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• 2014

In order to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide($CO_2$), this research use blast furnace slag in concrete manufacture, as 100% replacement of cement. The aim of this study is to investigate the density and strength properties of alkali-activated lightweight composites with alkali activators of different types and different amounts. The bubble for achieving the lightweight of alkali-activated lightweight composites was generated in the reaction between the paper ash and the alkali activators instead of using a foaming agent. Lightweight formed concrete was conducted basic experimental for determining replacement ratio of paper ash. Then, the density and strength were measured according to the types and the contents of the alkali accelerator that can react with the paper ash. As results, the optimum replacement ratio of the paper ash was 5%. The alkali activator containing NaOH 12.5% obtained the lowest weight of $1.13g/cm^3$. Also, compressive strength were relatively high. Therefore, this study demonstrated that alkali accelerator with a certain amount of NaOH can achieve relatively high strength and lightweight alkali-activated lightweight composites.