Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Erciyes Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi, cilt.37, sa.1, ss.118-129, 2021 (Hakemli Dergi)
This study investigates the influence of microwave (MW) curing on the
strength development of geopolymer. Since applying conventional oven heat curing
makes the heat move from the outer edge to the center of the specimen, it leads to a
non-uniform of distributing heat within the specimen, which affects the mechanical
properties of the geopolymer. On the other hand, the use of MW reduces the curing
time and allows uniform heat distribution within samples, and provides higher
mechanical properties in a short period. The influence of conventional heat curing
and MW curing on class F fly ash based geopolymer activated with sodium
hydroxide and sodium metasilicate was investigated. The conventional heat curing
was applied at 75 and 90°C for 6 and 24 hours; on the other hand, additional MW
curing was applied for a different period (5-60 minutes) and different energy level
(100, 180 and 300W) on hardened geopolymer samples cured with conventional
oven curing. The results show that the use of conventional heat curing for 6 hours,
followed by MW curing, gave higher or equivalent strength compared to only
conventional heat curing. While 24 hours conventional heat curing results with a
geopolymer having 39.1 MPa compressive strength, 6 hours conventional heat
curing followed by 1 hour MW curing at 180W energy level results with a
geopolymer with compressive strength in the order of 80 MPa.