Effect of Nanosilica on Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of PVA Fiber-Reinforced Geopolymer Composite (PVA-FRGC)

Hasan Assaedi; Thamer Alomayri; Ayesha Siddika; Faiz Shaikh; Hatem Alamri; Subaer Subaer; It-Meng Low

doi:10.3390/ma12213624

Effect of Nanosilica on Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of PVA Fiber-Reinforced Geopolymer Composite (PVA-FRGC)

Materials (Basel). 2019 Nov 4;12(21):3624. doi: 10.3390/ma12213624.

Authors

Hasan Assaedi¹, Thamer Alomayri², Ayesha Siddika³, Faiz Shaikh⁴, Hatem Alamri⁵, Subaer Subaer⁶, It-Meng Low⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University College in AlJumum, Umm Al-Qura University, P.O. Box 715, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia. hsassaedi@uqu.edu.sa.
² Department of Physics, Faculty of Applied Science, Umm Al-Qura University, P.O. Box 715, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia. tsomayri@uqu.edu.sa.
³ Department of Civil Engineering, Pabna University of Science & Technology, Pabna 6600, Bangladesh. ayeshace@pust.ac.bd.
⁴ Department of Civil Engineering, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth 6845, Australia. s.ahmed@curtin.edu.au.
⁵ Department of Physics, University College in AlJumum, Umm Al-Qura University, P.O. Box 715, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia. halamri@uqu.edu.sa.
⁶ Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, State University of Makassar, Jl. Daeng Tata Raya, Makassar 90224, Indonesia. subaer@gmail.com.
⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth 6845, Australia. j.low@curtin.edu.au.

Abstract

This paper presents the effects of various nanosilica (NS) contents on the mechanical properties of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber-reinforced geopolymer composites (PVA-FRGC). Microstructure analysis with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize the geopolymer composites. The results showed that the mechanical properties in terms of compressive strength, impact strength, and flexural behavior were improved due to the addition of NS to the PVA-FRGC. The optimum NS content was 1.0 to 2.0 wt%, which exhibited highest improvement in the above mechanical properties. Microstructure analysis showed that the addition of NS up to an optimum level densified the microstructure of the matrix as well as the PVA fiber-geopolymer matrix interface.

Keywords: PVA fibers; geopolymer; mechanical properties; nanosilica.