The present research work aims to produce fly ash geopolymer concrete with ferrochrome slag as coarse aggregate. The experimental results of all the properties of ferrochrome slag based geopolymer concrete are compared to controlled geopolymer concrete and proved as most efficient, technically acceptable and environmentally compatible construction material. From compressive strength, flexural strength and split tensile test results, it is observed that ferrochrome slag based geopolymer concrete shows excellent performance than that of controlled geopolymer concrete. Further, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses are performed to study the behavior of microstructure with effect of different conditions.

Introduction

In last three decades, different industrial wastes are widely used as coarse aggregate in concrete. Main ingredient is aggregate which has greater impact in the concrete as it occupies 75% of its volume. Aggregates directly affect the fresh and hardened properties [1]. Rapid growth of population and increased urbanization are the main factors to increase the demand of concrete. To reduce the demand of natural resources and environmental pollution, industrial wastes were used. Major CO2 production occurs during manufacturing of cement. Annually, production quantity increases 3%. Nearly about 0.94 tons of CO2 releases from the manufacturing of tones cement. SO3, NOx are greenhouse gases which are also released from cement industry. To maintain the ecological balance, the researchers develop sustainable construction material i.e. geopolymer concrete as an alternative to replace cement concrete. Geopolymer concrete (GPC) is an innovative construction material which reduces the demand of ordinary Portland cement (OPC), preserve the natural resources, achieve the environmental safety, solves the disposal problems of industrial wastes and also produces high strength concrete [2].