High-temperature, lightweight, alkali-activated materials with multi-walled carbon nanotubes as additives

Abstract

This article investigates how the concentration (from 18 to 6%) of an alkaline activator liquid (AL) affects the viscosity and physicomechanical properties of chamotte-based geopolymer composites with additives (foam-glass production waste, multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MCN), and an air-entrainer (AE)) as function of the heat-treatment temperature (three different temperatures). Heat-treatment at 1000°C decreases the density from 1600 to 1240 kg/m3 for samples with AE, strength from 20.0 to 2.6 MPa, and shrinkage from 5.9 to 1.5%. The combined use of AE and MCN makes it possible to increase the strength of the samples to 7.9 – 10.3% and decrease their shrinkage to 16.0 – 8.2%