Geopolymers in Construction Industry

Dear Colleagues,

Geopolymers (or alkali-activated materials) have received increased interest as an alternative material to Portland cement in recent decades due to their low-carbon-emission and excellent mechanical properties.

However, several challenging problems continue to exist, which hinder the engineering applications of geopolymers in the construction industry, including their workability differing from cement slurry, potential degradation of mechanical properties or protection of steel bars following carbonation, relatively high cost related to the use of alkali silicate or hydroxide, inherent brittleness, and high shrinkage properties. It is extremely important to obtain solutions to these problems so that geopolymers can be better used in practice.

Therefore, the purpose of this Special Issue is to collate and present innovative solutions for solving these problems, and to present high-quality scientific papers to an audience that shares an interest in the engineering application of geopolymers in the construction industry. The specific areas of interest of the current Special Issue include (but are not limited to) workability adjustment during the processing phase, carbonation behavior and control within in-service environments, shrinkage mechanism and compensation, toughness improvement, acid and salt resistance, durability assessment of reinforced geopolymer concrete, as well as the scientific gains of waste-derived alkaline-activator substitution for alkali silicate and hydroxide. Additionally, contributions concerning various modeling approaches and experimental techniques are also invited.

Prof. Dr. Hui Peng
Prof. Dr. Xiaolu Guo
Dr. Xiang Tian
Guest Editors

Dr. Xuetong Yang
Guest Editor Assistant

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