Relation between Drying Shrinkage Behavior and the Microstructure of Metakaolin-Based Geopolymer
Abstract
The drying shrinkage of geopolymers poses significant limitations on their potential as constructive materials. In this study, the drying shrinkage of metakaolin-based geopolymer (MKG) with different initial water/solid ratios and pore structures was investigated experimentally. According to mini-bar shrinkage experiments, the drying shrinkage-water loss relation of MKG showed two-stage behavior. The initial water/solid ratio influences the critical water loss and span of the pausing period of the shrinkage curves but not the general trend. Combined with the microstructure characterization and physical estimation, the underlying dependency of the shrinkage on the pore structure of the binder was elucidated. Capillary pressure, surface energy change, and gel densification dominate the drying shrinkage of MKG at different water loss stages. The findings indicate that besides porosity control, finer tuning of the pore size distribution is needed to control the drying shrinkage of MKG.
Recommended Citation
S. Chen et al., "Relation between Drying Shrinkage Behavior and the Microstructure of Metakaolin-Based Geopolymer," Journal of Zhejiang University: Science A, vol. 22, no. 10, pp. 819 - 834, Springer, Oct 2021.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.A2000513
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
Drying Shrinkage; Geopolymer; Microstructure; Modeling; TU526
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1862-1775; 1673-565X
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2021 Springer, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Oct 2021
Comments
Project supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFB0605700) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51879230 and 51778570)