4.6 Article

Degradation of Alkali-Activated Slag and Fly Ash Mortars under Different Aggressive Acid Conditions

Journal

Publisher

ASCE-AMER SOC CIVIL ENGINEERS
DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0003713

Keywords

Degradation depth; Alkali-activated slag; fly ash blended mortar; Sulfuric acid; Phosphoric acid; Phosphoric and sulfuric acid mixture; Diffusion coefficient; Hill function

Funding

  1. Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC)
  2. Australian Research Council [IH150100006]
  3. Geopolymer and Minerals Processing Group laboratory at The University of Melbourne

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This study experimentally investigated the degradation of alkali-activated slag/fly ash mortars with different ratios exposed to acidic environments, finding that phosphoric acid had the greatest aggressivity and mortars with a 60/40 slag/fly ash ratio exhibited the highest resistance. The degradation process of alkali-activated mortars was divided into two stages, with theoretical analysis predicting significant reduction in degradation depth compared to ordinary Portland cement-based mortar.
Acidic environments constitute serious chemical threats to concrete-like cementitious materials. The purpose of this study is to experimentally investigate the degradation of alkali-activated slag/fly ash mortars with different slag/fly ash ratios: 80/20, 60/40, and 40/60 in acidic environments. Mortar samples were exposed to three different types of aggressive acidic solutions: phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, and a mixture of phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid maintained at a constant pH value of 2.5 +/- 0.5 for a period of 150 days. Results showed that, for all mortar samples, the aggressivity of the phosphoric acid is greater compared to the other acids. Moreover, samples with a slag/fly ash ratio of 60/40 demonstrate the highest resistance against the three types of acidic environments. In addition, it shows that the degradation process of alkali-activated mortars can be divided into two degradation stages: an early stage and a subsequent stage. The chemical-reaction dominated early degradation stage is described by using Hill function, whereas a diffusion process-dominated subsequent stage is simulated with Fick's second law. Finally, the results of theoretical analysis predicted that the degradation depth of alkali-activated slag/fly ash mortars exposed to sulfuric acid environment (pH=2.0) for 50 years could be reduced by about 52%-60% compared to that of an ordinary Portland cement (OPC)-based mortar. (C) 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.

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