The Brittleness and Chemical Stability of Optimized Geopolymer Composites

Materials (Basel). 2017 Apr 9;10(4):396. doi: 10.3390/ma10040396.

Abstract

Geopolymers are known as high strength and durable construction materials but have a brittle fracture. In practice, this results in a sudden collapse at ultimate load, without any chance of preventing the breakdown of parts or of withstanding the stress for some time. Glass fiber usage as a total anisotropic shape acting as a compact structure component should hinder the fracture mechanism. The optimized compositions in this study led to a significant reinforcement, especially in the case of flexural strength, but also in terms of the compressive strength and notch toughness. The positive and negative influence of the fibers on the complex composite properties provided chemical stability.

Keywords: acid leaching; compressive; elastic modulus; flexural strength; impact strength; interfacial transition zone; metakaolin; porosity.