As an alternative to ordinary Portland cement (OPC), alkali‐activated materials (AAMs) have more recently been studied and found to have certain suitability in reducing ecological footprint of OPC binding systems. Nonetheless, due to recent concerns over the availability of certain precursors used AAMs (such as the reduction of coal fly ash availability), this study utilized marble powder in various quantities to replace the naturally available kaolin as precursor. This composite use of natural precursors has been entertained to assimilate the production of carbon zero AAMs. To evaluate the physico‐mechanical and microstructural characteristics of the materials, 48 mixes with different sodium (Na) concentrations, curing temperatures, and marble powder content have been used. The results show that rising curing temperature is more effective than other variables, such as the Na and marble powder content on the physico‐mechanical performance of tested geopolymers. In this regard, it is found that a very high Na content can have adverse effect on the properties, potentially due to altered Na/Si, Na/Al ratio in the mixes. Furthermore, the inclusion of marble powder is found to be effective in decreasing the overall porosity up to ~31% and enhancing the physico‐mechanical properties of the specimens cured at 20 and 80°C. Nonetheless, results show that when specimens containing marble powder are exposed to higher curing temperatures (above 80°C) the presence of marble powder adversely affects physico‐mechanical properties. It is concluded that this phenomenon is caused by the dehydration of chemically bound water in higher temperatures when marble powder is used. This result is further confirmed by microstructural tests.

Recent trends in reducing the ecological footprint of the construction industry have increased the attention surrounding the use of alternative binding systems. Among the most promising are geopolymer binders, which were found to have the capability to substantially reduce the environmental impact of Portland cement use. However, even the use of this alternative binding system is known to be heavily dependent on the use of industrial byproducts, such as precursors and an alkaline source, produced through an energy intensive process. To address this and provide a greener route for this binding system, this study adopts the use of natural kaolin and raw ceramic powder as the main precursors. The activation process is performed by using solid potassium hydroxide in conjunction with sodium and magnesium sulfate, which are naturally available, to produce geopolymers. To assess the resulting geopolymer samples, 28 mixes are produced and a series of physico-mechanical and microstructural analyses is conducted. The results show that the use of ceramic powder can improve the physico-mechanical properties by reducing porosity. This, however, requires a relatively higher alkalinity for activation and strength development. These findings are further confirmed with the XRD and FTIR results. Nonetheless, the use of ceramic powder with sodium and magnesium sulfate is found to result in a more coherent and homogenous microstructure, compared to the geopolymers produced with potassium hydroxide and kaolin. The findings of this study point to the suitability of using sodium and magnesium sulfate for the cleaner production of kaolin and ceramic powder-based geopolymers.