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Cited by 102Geotechnical Engineering and Soil StabilizationConcrete and Cement Materials ResearchGeotechnical and construction materials studies

Evaluation on the Mechanical Properties of Ground Granulated Blast Slag (GGBS) and Fly Ash Stabilized Soil via Geopolymer Process

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Abdila, Syafiadi Rizki, Abdullah, Mohd Mustafa Al Bakri, Ahmad, Romisuhani, Rahim, Shayfull Zamree Abd, Rychta, Małgorzata, Wnuk, Izabela, Nabiałek, Marcin, Muskalski, Krzysztof +4 more·2021·Materials
DOI 10.3390/ma14112833PMC PMC8198223
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Abstract

This study intended to address the problem of damaged (collapsed, cracked and decreased soil strength) road pavement structure built on clay soil due to clay soil properties such as low shear strength, high soil compressibility, low soil permeability, low soil strength, and high soil plasticity. Previous research reported that ground granulated blast slag (GGBS) and fly ash can be used for clay soil stabilizations, but the results of past research indicate that the road pavement construction standards remained unfulfilled, especially in terms of clay’s subgrade soil. Due to this reason, this study is carried out to further investigate soil stabilization using GGBS and fly ash-based geopolymer processes. This study investigates the effects of GGBS and ratios of fly ash (solid) to alkaline activator (liquid) of 1:1, 1.5:1, 2:1, 2.5:1, and 3:1, cured for 1 and 7 days. The molarity of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and the ratio of sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) to sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was fixed at 10 molar and 2.0 weight ratio. The mechanical properties of the soil stabilization based geopolymer process were tested using an unconfined compression test, while the characterization of soil stabilization was investigated using the plastic limit test, liquid limit test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that the highest strength obtained was 3.15 MPA with a GGBS to alkaline activator ratio of 1.5 and Na2SiO3 to NaOH ratio of 2.0 at 7 days curing time. These findings are useful in enhancing knowledge in the field of soil stabilization-based geopolymer, especially for applications in pavement construction. In addition, it can be used as a reference for academicians, civil engineers, and geotechnical engineers.

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Crossref · 10.3390/ma14112833

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  • A sodium silicate (Na2SiO3)/sodium hydroxide (NaOH) ratio of 2.0 in soil stabilization using fly-ash-based geopolymer shows the best performance.

    “This is supported by multiple another study, which also found that sodium silicate (Na2SiO3)/sodium hydroxide (NaOH) ratio at 2.0 in soil stabilization using fly-ash-based geopolymer process shows the best performance [51,74].”

    From Potential of Soil Stabilization Using Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) and Fly Ash via Geopolymerization Method: A Review (2022) · cites this paper as [74]

    The Abstract reports that the highest-strength mixture used a Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio of 2.0. But that ratio was held fixed throughout this study, so the paper does not establish that 2.0 performs better than other Na2SiO3/NaOH ratios. The Conclusions call for further investigation of different ratios. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • 10 M NaOH solution is suitable for Class F and Class C fly-ash-based geopolymer.

    “The researcher found that 10 M NaOH solution is suitable for Class F and Class C fly-ash-based geopolymer, respectively [51,74,101,107,108].”

    From Potential of Soil Stabilization Using Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) and Fly Ash via Geopolymerization Method: A Review (2022) · cites this paper as [74]

    The Method section (2.3; page unavailable) says the study used 10 M NaOH in an activator blended with sodium silicate, and Raw Materials Characterization (3.1.2; page unavailable) identifies its fly ash as Class C. This supports use of 10 M NaOH with Class C fly ash in the tested soil-stabilization mixture, but the paper does not establish its suitability for Class F fly ash or as a NaOH solution used alone. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The molarity of NaOH solution significantly affects the workability, geopolymerization reaction, and strength development of the final product.

    “The molarity of NaOH solution is reported to significantly affect the workability, geopolymerization reaction, and strength development of the final product [74,87,102,103].”

    From Potential of Soil Stabilization Using Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) and Fly Ash via Geopolymerization Method: A Review (2022) · cites this paper as [74]

    The Methods section (2.3; page not available) says NaOH contributes to geopolymer-forming reactions and reports a prior finding that 10 M NaOH, at a specified activator ratio, gave optimum compressive strength. But this study held NaOH molarity fixed at 10 M; its workability finding concerns the solid-to-liquid ratio, not NaOH molarity. The cited paper therefore does not establish the claimed effect of molarity on workability or reaction rate. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • NaOH solution contains and provides hydroxide ion (OH-) and sodium ion (Na+), mainly responsible for the dissolution of aluminosilicate source materials and the polymerization process of geopolymer.

    “It contains and provides hydroxide ion (OH-) and sodium ion (Na+), mainly responsible for the dissolution of aluminosilicate source materials and the polymerization process of geopolymer [74,78,82,83,99,100,101].”

    From Potential of Soil Stabilization Using Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) and Fly Ash via Geopolymerization Method: A Review (2022) · cites this paper as [74]

    The Introduction says alkaline solutions including NaOH are used to dissolve Si and Al, and §2.3 says NaOH contributes to their reaction and formation of a solid polymer bond (page numbers unavailable). The copy does not specifically identify OH− and Na+ as the ions responsible for dissolution and polymerization. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Using NaOH solution in geopolymer synthesis causes low strength development if the molarity used is too high or too low.

    “The obstacle of using NaOH solution in the geopolymer synthesis is the low strength development if the molarity used is too high or too low [71,72,74,80,92,94].”

    From Potential of Soil Stabilization Using Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) and Fly Ash via Geopolymerization Method: A Review (2022) · cites this paper as [74]

    The Method section reports that 10 M NaOH was chosen based on a cited study finding optimum compressive strength at that concentration and a specified solution ratio. The paper kept NaOH molarity fixed; its Conclusions call for further study of different molarities. It does not establish that both excessively high and excessively low molarity cause low strength. (LLM, conf=0.76)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Authors
Abdila, S. R., Abdullah, M. M. A. B., Ahmad, R., Rahim, S. Z. A., Rychta, M., Wnuk, I., Nabiałek, M., Muskalski, K., Tahir, M. F. M., Syafwandi, Isradi, M., & Gucwa, M.
Affiliations
  • Universiti Malaysia Perlis (MY)
  • Częstochowa University of Technology (PL)
  • Mercu Buana University (ID)
Corresponding author
  • Abdila, Syafiadi Rizki
  • Abdullah, Mohd Mustafa Al Bakri
ORCID
Venue
Materials
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2021-05-26
Volume
14
Issue
11
Pages
2833
ISSN
1996-1944 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/ma14112833
PMC
PMC8198223
OpenAlex
W3163998955
Cited by
102
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 3
FWCI
7.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Materials (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Civil and Structural Engineering › Geotechnical Engineering and Soil Stabilization
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Civil and Structural Engineering › Concrete and Cement Materials Research
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Civil and Structural Engineering › Geotechnical and construction materials studies
Keywords
ground granulated blast furnace slag, fly ash, geopolymer, soil stabilization, clay soil, road subgrade, alkaline activator, sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide ratio, curing time, unconfined compressive strength, plastic limit, liquid limit

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