INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF SAND ON THE MECHANICAL STRENGTH OF GEOPOLYMER FOAM

Geopolymer has been emerging as an alternative to traditional materials in the construction industry, such as ordinary Portland cement and lime, which have a serious impact on the environment. This paper presented the mechanical strength depending on the sand content added to the geopolymer foam. A series of apparent density, curing age flexural and compression tests were performed on geopolymer foam added by fiber and sand (GMFS). The apparent density of GMFS decreased with longer curing age, but not significantly. The results showed that the combination of a higher ratio of sand with a longer curing age gave GMFS the best mechanical properties in flexural tests but did not show an improvement in the results of the compression test. These results indicated that GMFS was stable after seven days