Abstract
Production of geopolymer based materials has gained popularity over the past decades, several researchers have tried various alumina-silicate (AS) source materials. The issue with geopolymer is it does not have any standard criteria on which mix design can be developed due to the ever-changing chemical composition of its AS source materials. This research focuses on the identification and investigation of various design variables and their influence on the performance of Copper slag incorporated geopolymer mortar (CSGM) developed by using industrial copper byproduct. In this research, three crucial factors i.e., sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide (SS/SH ratio), the molarity of sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and curing temperature were identified as design variables. The mix proportions were developed using identified design variables adopting the Taguchi's method of L16 orthogonal array. Also, the effect of identified design variables on the flow value and setting time of CSGM was analyzed. The optimal level of factors was found to be (SS/SH = 2.4), (Molarity of NaOH = 14 M) and (curing Temp. = 60 degrees C) from the analysis. Further, the optimal composition of CSGM, which was validated by comparing it to fly ash (class F) based geopolymer mortar (FAGM). The comparative results showed better performance of CSGM as compared to FAGM. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.