Due to environmental pollution form cement industries, some efforts for alternative construction material are increasing. Recently, geopolymer concrete has drawn attention of researchers and engineers because of its lower carbon print and better mechanical property over Portland cement concrete. According to previous studies, geopolymer concrete results almost up to 90% reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emission to atmosphere. Mechanical properties of geopolymer concrete such as compressive strength, durability, sulfate resistance, early strength and low shrinkage are better than Portland cement concrete. In addition, the appropriate usage of one ton of fly ash earns one carbon-credit redemption value of about 20 Euros, and hence earned monetary benefits through carbon-credit trade.Therefore, this paper presents a review on the fly ash-based geopolymer concrete. The paper mainly covers composition, mixing and curing process, benefits, limitations and applications of alkali activated fly ash based geopolymer concrete.

A research has been conducted to investigate the physico-mechanical and microstructure properties of geopolymers synthesised from metakaolin activated with sodium silicate solution. A wide range of physical and mechanical properties of geopolymers were studied such as bulk density, porosity, Vickers hardness, compressive strength, thermal expansion and thermal conductivity. It was found that these properties were directly related to geopolymers process variables such as Si:Al, Na:Al, Na₂O:H₂O, time and curing temperature. The structure of the resulting geopolymers was studied by using X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and the microstructure of geopolymers paste and the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the aggregate and the matrix of geopolymer were studied by using Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results gave a new insight into the composition-microstructure-property relationship of geopolymers and paving the way to the production of geopolymers with improved performance in a variety of applications.

This paper describes one of the varying factors influencing the mechanical properties of geopolymer concrete. Fly ash and volcanic material called trass was used as raw materials, while sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) and Sodium silicate (Na₂SiO₃) was applied as an alkali activator. Mechanical properties were assessed by compressive test, the concentration of NaOH used in this study was eight and ten Molars, and ratio of Na₂SiO₃to NaOH by mass was 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5. Test results indicated that the strength of geopolymer concrete and binder were hardly influenced by concentration of NaOH in solution and the activator ratio. Binder with activator ratio of 2.5 has the highest compressive strength both in 8M and 10M NaOH system. However, in concrete, there are a few difference, concretes made with 8M NaOH and activators ratio of 2 have the highest compressive strength. This result might due to the low workability of fresh geopolymer concrete. On the other hand, binder and concrete made with 10M NaOH, showed the highest compressive strength when they were made with the activator ratio of 2,5.

The effect of loss of ignition, specific gravity, fineness, specific surface area and soluble fly ash to compressive strength of geopolymer paste were studied. Six fly ashes from two different sources and different time of collection were evaluated. Sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate were used as alkali activator. Concentration of sodium hydroxide and mass ratio of sodium hydroxide to sodium silicate were fixed 14M and one respectively. The result indicated that the improvement in compressive strength of geopolymer paste was more influenced by fineness, specific surface area and soluble content of fly ash. Soluble content of fly ash greatly affected the compressive strength of geopolymer paste compare to the compressive strength of cement paste with 20% fly ash replacement.