Alkali-activation of marble sludge: Influence of curing conditions and waste glass addition

The use of marble sludge as precursor for new alkali activated materials was assessed studying three different curing conditions (air, humid and water immersion, respectively), after an initial curing at 60 °C for 24 h, and two glass powder fractions additions (2.5 and 5.0 vol%). Microstructural, physical (drying shrinkage, Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray spectroscopy (XPS)), thermal (differential thermal analysis – thermogravimetric analysis, DTA-TGA) and mechanical (flexural and compressive strength) properties were investigated. Air curing was the most favourable atmosphere for mechanical properties development because it promotes Si-O-Si polymerization and gel densification, as demonstrated by FT-IR and FE-SEM observations, respectively. Satisfactory mechanical properties were achieved (18 MPa and 45 MPa, for flexural and compressive strength, respectively) in particular for glass containing mixtures. Moreover, glass powder addition significantly reduced drying shrinkage of air-cured samples because it operated as a rigid aggregate in the matrix and strengthened the formed gel.