Investigation of the Impact of Geotextile Incorporation on the Mechanical Properties of Geopolymer

Abstract

Geopolymers assume an irreplaceable position in the engineering field on account of their numerous merits, such as durability and high temperature resistance. Nevertheless, geopolymers also demonstrate brittleness. In this study, geotextiles with different layers were added to geopolymer to study its compressive strength and stability. Laboratory materials such as alkali activators, geotextiles and granite residual soil (GRS) were utilized. The samples were characterized via XRD, TG-DTG, SEM-EDS and FT-IR. The results indicate that the toughness of geopolymer is significantly enhanced by adding geotextiles, and the strength increase is most obvious when adding one layer of geotextile: the strength increased from 2.57 Mpa to 3.26 Mpa on the 14th day, an increase of 27%. Additionally, the D-W cycle has a great influence on geotextile polymers. On the 14th day, the average strength of the D-W cyclic sample (1.935 Mpa) was 1.305 Mpa smaller than that of the naturally cured sample (3.24 Mpa), and the strength decreased by 40%. These discoveries offer a novel approach for further promoting the application of geopolymers, especially in the field of foundation reinforcement.