Effect of chitosan on the mechanical properties and acid resistance of metakaolin-blast furnance slag-based geopolymers

Abstract

Adding organics in the process of geopolymer synthesis can combine the functional groups of organics with the three-dimensional structure of geopolymer, thus changing the properties of geopolymer such as compressive strength, flexural strength, and acid resistance. In this work, excellent mechanical properties and acid resistance of metakaolin-blast furnance slag (Mk-BFS)-based geopolymer were synthesized by the incorporation of chitosan. The formation of sodium-alumino-silicate-hydrate (N-A-S-H) gel and calium-alumino-silicate-hydrate (C-A-S-H) gel in geopolymerization were characterized by ²⁹Si nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). At 5% of chitosan, the compressive strength of Mk-BFS-based geopolymer could reach to 33.7 MPa. The results could be ascribed to that chitosan reacts with geopolymer to generate new C-O-Si structure meanwhile adhesion produced by the combination of positively charged cations and negatively charged ions makes the structure of geopolymer denser. After 7 days of sulfuric acid immersion, the reduction of compressive strength is less than 3 MPa, demonstrating its great acid resistance. The acid resistance of Mk-BFS-based geopolymer could attribute to that the free amino groups in chitosan preferentially react with acid solution and weakened the erosion of sulfuric acid. This study optimizes the compressive strength and acid resistance of geopolymer by adding appropriate amount of chitosan.

Keywords: Acid resistance; Blast furnance slag geopolymer; Chitosan; Mechanical strength; Metakaolin geopolymer.