Investigation on the role of alkaline earth activators on Crystallization of Geopolymer ceramic based on Kaolinite Clay from Southwestern Sabah

• Main Authors: Sazmal Effendi Bin Arshad, Baba Musta, Nurmin Bolong
• Format: Research Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sabah 2012
• Subjects: QD Chemistry
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/22652/1/Investigation%20on%20the%20role%20of%20alkaline%20earth%20activators%20on%20Crystallization%20of%20Geopolymer%20ceramic%20based%20on%20Kaolinite%20Clay%20from%20Southwestern%20Sabah.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/22652/

Geopolymer was prepared by geopolymerization of metakaolin. Metakaolin utilized from local clay from Kg. Sri Tawau, Sabah as the aluminosilicate source. This work studies the effect of barium hydroxide octahydrate on the setting mechanism of geopolymer in the making of geopolymers. The study focuses on the monitoring of the setting process and the identification of the mineral phases formed, which are essential for furthering the study of the durability of barium mixtures against chemical degradation. The flocculation of clay is carried out with 1 % (NaP03)6 to remove impurities before being calcined at 800 °e for 24 hours in order to obtain a very reactive metakolin. Metakaolin was mixed with three different fillers of calcium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide and barium hydroxide. Optimizing formulation by using four different mol ratio of barium hydroxide octahydrate, Ba(OH)2.8H20 : 0, 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0. Those mixtures were finally activated with 10M sodium hydroxide solutions. The activation process was carried out at temperatures 80 °e. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) were used to monitor the setting processes of these mixtures and identify new phases formed. Finally, it was found that barium hydroxide octahydrate with mol ratio 1.0 give the best strength in geopolymer product produced. The results suggest that barium hydroxide is evenly distributed within the mixtures and produces a homogeneous binding material. This implies that barium hydroxide octahydrate can be a good additives material in geopolymer.