Ceramic Waste as New Precursors for Geopolymerization

Geopolymers, and more in general alkali activated materials (AAM), are a new class of materials obtained by alumino-silicates precursors activated by means of alkaline solutions. Indeed, the term geopolymers is usually strictly referred to pure alumino-silicates such as metakaolin as starting material, whereas when the precursors also contain calcium oxide the resulting products are usually defined AAM. Geopolymerization technology can be more easily considered a sustainable process when industrial waste is used as precursors and the consolidation process occurs at room temperature. With these premises, alkali activation may be a very promising technology for the ceramic sector as well as construction industry. In this work, waste coming from bricks production has been used to obtain, at room temperature, geopolymers with different porosity tuning the sodium silicate content in the feed. Microstructure analysis carried out by means of mercury intrusion porosimeter and scanning electron microscopy is reported and discussed.