Light weight geopolymer paste made with sidoarjo mud (Lusi)

This paper presents the efforts of how to use the solid form of Sidoarjo mud as a base material of lightweight-geopolymer paste. The mud, which is called Lusi was mixed with a class F fly ash. Some experimental results have shown that mixing mud with fly ash and alkali was potential to become a binder in concrete, instead of Portland cement. Alkaline solutions used in the mixture were NaOH of 12 M and 14 M and Na₂SiO₃ combined in the ratio of 1:2. 5 by weight. Aluminum powder was applied as a foaming agent. It showed that the strength of paste made with mixing Sidoarjo mud and fly ash was influenced by mud content. The effect of chemical admixture and curing temperature was observed as well. A steam curing method at 60°C was applied to the paste for three and six hours. Test results showed that the compressive strength of the paste varied with the concentration of alkaline solution, mud content, admixture and curing temperature. The maximum strength of the lightweight paste at 21 days was 2. 8 MPa with the density of 722 kg/m³.