Polymeric Concrete: Complete Elimination of Cement for Sustainable Futures

Limestone and clay are the prime raw materials used in the manufacturing of Portland cement and quarrying of them is becoming the source of environmental degradation. Past few researches showed that in coming years limestone will be hardly available for cement production. Besides that, carbon footprints due to cement production are causing global warming. In addition to this, waste disposal is also becoming a global issue because of scarcity and expensiveness of landfills. Polymeric concrete utilizes waste materials such as fly ash (FA) and rice husk ash (RHA) together with alkaline solution (NaOH & NaSiO2), which results in a green binder to replace cement. This research study focuses on complete elimination of Portland cement for production of concrete that can achieve 28 days cube strength in the range of 40-50 MPa with the emphasis on the curing techniques applicable for in-situ construction; including hot gunny sack, ambient and external exposure curing. This research study incorporates FA as a base source material and RHA as a replacement of FA by 3%, 5% and 7% in polymeric concrete. Tests for compressive and tensile strength were performed in addition to scanning electron microscopy analysis. Results showed higher compressive strength and tensile strength values for external exposure curing as well as better development of microstructure for the same, compared with other types of curing.