Investigating the Set and Strength Behaviors of Blast-Furnace Slag Blended Geopolymer Cement Based on Natural Pozzolan

In this work, the effect of some parameters including sodium oxide, ground granulated blast-furnace slag, and W/C-ratio on the most important engineering properties of natural pozzolan-based geopolymer cement systems were investigated. The properties studied include 28-day compressive strength and times of initial and final settings. The results obtained reveal that the most effective parameter on strength behaviour is sodium oxide concentration. The geopolymer cement system comprising of 5 wt% blast-furnace slag and 8 wt% Na2O with a W/C-ratio of 0.30 exhibits the highest 28-day compressive strength, i.e. 36 MPa, along with almost acceptable initial and final setting times.