Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Publication
    Study on polypropylene twisted bundle fiber reinforced lightweight foamed concrete
    ( 2023)
    Md Azree Othuman Mydin
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    ; ;
    Mohd Nasrun Mohd Nawi
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    Puput Risdanareni
    ;
    Poppy Puspitasari
    ;
    Andrei Victor Sandu
    ;
    Madalina Simona Baltatu
    ;
    Petrica Vizureanu
    Recent industrial developments have focused more and more on the applications of lightweight foamed concrete (LFC) in the construction industry, having advantages over normal-strength concrete. LFC, however, has several drawbacks including brittleness, high porosity, excessive drying shrinkage, rapid cracking, and low deformation resistance. Practical engineering typically chooses steel fiber or polymer fiber to increase the tensile and fracture resistance of LFC. The polypropylene twisted bundle fiber (PTBF) was added to the LFC with varying weight fractions of 0.0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0% and 2.5%. Three low densities of LFC were prepared, specifically 500 kg/m3, 700 kg/m3 and 900 kg/m3. The mechanical and durability properties of PTBF-reinforced LFC were determined through compression, flexural, splitting tensile, flow table, porosity, and water absorption tests. The results show that the addition of PTBF in LFC significantly improves the strength properties (compressive, flexural, and splitting tensile strengths) and reduces the water absorption capacity and porosity. The optimal weight fraction of PTBF was between 1.5 and 2.0% for mechanical properties enhancement. The inclusion of PTBF increased the ductility of LFC, and the specimens remain intact from loading to failure. The PTBF reduces the original cracks of the LFC and inhibits the development of further cracks in the LFC.
  • Publication
    Metakaolin/sludge based geopolymer adsorbent on high removal efficiency of Cu2+
    ( 2022)
    Pilomeena Arokiasamy
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    ; ;
    Mohd Remy Rozainy Mohd Arif Zainol
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    ;
    Marwan Kheimi
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    Jitrin Chaiprapa
    ;
    Andrei Victor Sandu
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    Petrica Vizureanu
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    ;
    Activated carbon (AC) has received a lot of interest from researchers for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater due to its abundant porous structure. However, it was found unable to meet the required adsorption capacity due to its amorphous structure which restricts the fundamental studies and structural optimization for improved removal performance. In addition, AC is not applicable in large scale wastewater treatment due its expensive synthesis and difficulty in regeneration. Thus, the researchers are paying more attention in synthesis of low cost geopolymer based adsorbent for heavy metal removal due its excellent immobilization effect. However, limited studies have focused on the synthesis of geopolymer based adsorbent for heavy metal adsorption by utilizing industrial sludge. Thus, the aim of this research was to develop metakaolin (MK) based geopolymer adsorbent with incorporation of two types of industrial sludge (S1 and S3) that could be employed as an adsorbent for removing copper (Cu2+) from aqueous solution through the adsorption process. The effects of varied solid to liquid ratio (S/L) on the synthesis of metakaolin/sludge based geopolymer adsorbent and the removal efficiency of Cu2+ by the synthesis adsorbent were studied. The raw materials and synthesized geopolymer were characterized by using x-ray fluorescence (XRF), x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and micro XRF. The concentration of Cu2+ before and after adsorption was determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and the removal efficiency was calculated. The experimental data indicated that the synthesized geopolymer at low S/L ratio has achieved the highest removal efficiency of Cu2+ about 99.62 % and 99.37 % at 25 %:75 % of MK/S1 and 25 %:75 % of MK/S3 respectively compared to pure MK based geopolymer with 98.56 %. The best S/
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  • Publication
    Bonding strength characteristics of FA-based geopolymer paste as a repair material when applied on OPC substrate
    ( 2020)
    Warid Wazien Ahmad Zailani
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    Aissa Bouaissi
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    ; ;
    Sorachon Yoriya
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    ;
    Mohd Remy Rozainy M. A. Z.
    ;
    Hamzah Fansuri
    This investigative study aims to study the mechanical and morphological properties of fly ash (FA)-based geopolymer paste as a repair material when applied on ordinary Portland cement (OPC) overlay concrete. The first part of this study investigates the optimal mix design of FA-based geopolymer paste with various NaOH concentrations of 8, 10, 12, and 14 M, which were used later as a repair material. The second part studies the bonding strength using a slant shear test between the geopolymer repair material and OPC substrate concrete. The results showed that a shorter setting time corresponds to the higher NaOH molarity, within the range of 53 and 30 min at 8 and 14 M, respectively. The compressive strength of FA-based geopolymer paste was found to reach 92.5 MPa at 60 days. Also, from the slant shear test results, prism specimens with 125 mm length and 50 mm wide have a large bond strength of 11 MPa at 12 M. The scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX) analysis showed that the OPC substrate has a significant effect on slant shear bond strength, where the presence of free cations of Ca2+ on the OPC substrate surface contributed to the formation of calcium alumina-silicate hydrate gel (C-A-S-H) by building various cross-links of Ca-O-Si.
      11  19
  • Publication
    Characterisation at the bonding zone between fly ash based Geopolymer Repair Materials (GRM) and Ordinary Portland Cement Concrete (OPCC)
    ( 2020)
    Warid Wazien Ahmad Zailani
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    ;
    Mohd Fadzil Arshad
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    ; ;
    Remy Rozainy Mohd Arif Zainol
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    Marcin Nabialek
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    Andrei Victor Sandu
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    Jerzy J. Wysłocki
    ;
    Katarzyna Błoch
    In recent years, research and development of geopolymers has gained significant interest in the fields of repairs and restoration. This paper investigates the application of a geopolymer as a repair material by implementation of high-calcium fly ash (FA) as a main precursor, activated by a sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solution. Three methods of concrete substrate surface preparation were cast and patched: as-cast against ordinary Portland cement concrete (OPCC), with drilled holes, wire-brushed, and left as-cast against the OPCC grade 30. This study indicated that FA-based geopolymer repair materials (GRMs) possessed very high bonding strength at early stages and that the behavior was not affected significantly by high surface treatment roughness. In addition, the investigations using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy have revealed that the geopolymer repair material became chemically bonded to the OPC concrete substrate, due to the formation of a C–A–S–H gel. Fundamentally, the geopolymer network is composed of tetrahedral anions (SiO4)4− and (AlO4)5− sharing the oxygen, which requires positive ions such as Na+, K+, Li+, Ca2+, Na+, Ba2+, NH4+, and H3O+. The availability of calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) at the surface of the OPCC substrate, which was rich in calcium ions (Ca2+), reacted with the geopolymer; this compensated the electron vacancies of the framework cavities at the bonding zone between the GRM and the OPCC substrate.
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