DEVELOPMENT OF GEOPOLYMERS USING FLY ASH AND NANO SILICA FROM PALM ASH FOR COATING STUDY

The environmental and health risks of petrochemical derived coatings accompanied
by their degradation and failure at high temperatures need to be addressed. In this study,
different types of geopolymers were synthesized to investigate the effect of mixed design
and nano silica on thermal stability, durability, workability and adhesiveness of
geopolymers. Sodium silicate free, sodium silicate based and nano silica incorporated
geopolymers were prepared from fly ash and alkali activators.. The agglomeration in
silica was controlled by the addition of poly ethylene glycol (MW 20,000); giving nano
silica particles in the range of 20-80 run, surface area of 326 nrg"1, and pore diameter of
"8~.2~nmTThermokinetics and thermodynamics studies, using the Kissinger, Ozawa and
Starink methods, revealed physical interactions between Si02 particles and PEG
molecules.