Preparation of cleaner one-part geopolymer by investigating different types of commercial sodium metasilicate in China

One-part geopolymers prepared by powder activators, similar to Portland cement in cast-in-situ application, are promising building materials due to the relatively slighter embodied environmental impact. There are three types of commercial sodium metasilicate powders in the China market, and they are Na2SiO3-anhydrous/NS0, Na2SiO3·5H2O/NS5 and Na2SiO3·9H2O/NS9, respectively. This study employed ultra-fine fly ash sinking beads (FASB) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) as precursor materials to analyze the influences of NS0, NS5 and NS9 on the properties, microstructure and environmental impact of one-part geopolymer by measuring and characterizing compressive strength, porosity, reaction heat release, geopolymerization products and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) emission. The experimental results indicate that NS0 has the most rapid and effective activated effect in both single GGBS and GGBS-FASB composites. The strength of geopolymer activated with NS0 is the highest, followed by that with NS9, and followed by that with NS5. The products are mainly gelatinous phases, and the gels in NS0 and NS9 activated geopolymers are better geopolymerized than those in NS5 activated geopolymer, which is proved to be responsible for the difference in macro-performance. The evaluations of the cost and CO2-e emission per MPa of one-part geopolymer demonstrate that NS0 and NS9 are much cheaper and cleaner than NS5 for preparing one-part geopolymer. The embodied CO2 indexes of NS0 and NS9 activated single GGBS are only about 26.5% and 34.0% of that of ordinary Portland cement. This study not only partially explains the reasons for the different properties of one-part geopolymer activated by different types of sodium metasilicate, but also provides a guidance for preparing one-part geopolymer with reasonable cost and slight environmental impact.