Construction and Building Materials 136 (2017) 298–306

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Construction and Building Materials

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Synthesis and properties of alkali activated borosilicate inorganic

polymers based on waste glass
Taha H. Abood Al Saadi a,b, Alina Ioana Badanoiu a,⇑, Adrian Ionut Nicoara a, Stefania Stoleriu a,
Georgeta Voicu a
a
University Politehnica of Bucharest, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, Dept. Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Bucharest, Romania
b
Middle Technical University/Technical Engineering College-Baghdad, Iraq

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

Inorganic polymers from alkali

activation of waste glass with NaOH
+ borax solution.

These materials have intumescent
behavior.

Fly ash addition improves their
stability in humid environment.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Alkali activated borosilicate inorganic polymers (AABSIP) can be obtained by the alkali activation of waste
Received 24 March 2016 glass powder with a NaOH solution in which anhydrous borax was previously dissolved. AABSIPs have
Received in revised form 22 December 2016 the ability to swell during the thermal treatment increasing their volume and apparent porosity. The
Accepted 8 January 2017
temperature at which these materials swell is smaller as compared with the one assessed for the inor-
Available online 21 January 2017
ganic polymers obtained by the alkaline activation with NaOH solution of waste glass powder. The partial
substitution of glass powder with fly ash (10%) do not substantially modifies the AABSIP behavior at high
Keywords:
temperatures. The presence of fly ash improves the stability in humid environment (moisture) of AABSIP.
Alkali activated inorganic polymer
Geopolymer
The intumescent behavior (i.e. swelling as a result of heat/fire exposure) is less affected for the AABSIP
Waste glass paste with fly ash when it’s curing take place in humid medium (moisture) as compared to the compo-
Borax sition without fly ash.
Foam Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Intumescent material

1. Introduction variety of natural minerals or industrial wastes) and an alkaline

Alkali activated inorganic polymers or geopolymers are materi-
als that can be produced from an aluminosilicate source (a wide
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: alina.badanoiu@upb.ro (A.I. Badanoiu).
activator solution (caustic alkalis or alkaline salts). Among the
numerous wastes that can be used as solid or/and liquid
component for the synthesis of this type of materials [1–5], our
research group selected two i.e. waste glass (cullet) and red mud
slurry (waste resulted in bauxite processing industry) [6–9]. The
results obtained so far pointed out the possibility to re-use

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.01.026
0950-0618/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Taha H. Abood Al Saadi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 136 (2017) 298–306
silica-soda-lime waste glass powder or mixtures of waste glass and
red mud in order to produce binding materials (geopolymers) by
alkaline activation with NaOH solution and thermal treatment at
60 °C [6–8]. One interesting property of these materials was their
ability to swell, with important increase of volume and porosity,
during thermal treatment [7]; therefore, is possible to produce
foamed geopolymers by the alkali activation of finely ground
soda-lime glasses (with/without red mud addition) and thermal
treatment at 600–800 °C, without using any other foaming agents
[7,10].
This ability to swell during the thermal treatment is specific for
intumescent materials; therefore, other possible application for
these materials, obtained by the alkaline activation of waste glass,
can be as intumescent materials for passive fire protection. The
currently available intumescent materials can be used for door
seals, penetration or linear gap sealants, etc. and have, in most
cases, lower values for the initiation temperatures (140–200 °C)
[11]. Therefore, considering the fluxing ability of boron compounds
[12,13] we assess in this study the possibility to obtain alkali acti-
vated inorganic polymers (geopolymers) based on waste glass
powder with borax addition.
The use of boron compounds in the reagent mixture specific for
geopolymers (alkali activated inorganic polymers) synthesis was
also reported in the following four studies [14–17].
Nicholson and Fletcher [14] reported the synthesis of a novel
geopolymer compositions with structurally incorporated boron;
these materials can be obtained from a reagent mixture compris-
ing/including a metal (group I – alkali) silicate, an aluminosilicate
and a boron containing compound. In this new type of geopolymer
the boron represents an integral part of the structure and it may
substitute the tetrahedral aluminium or silicon. According to the
authors these materials have as main advantage a longer setting
time with respect to aluminosilicate geopolymers based on fly
ashes with high calcium content (class C fly ash).
Nazari et al. [15,16] reported also the synthesis of boroalumi-
nosilicate geopolymers by the alkaline activation of fly ash (class
F) with a mixture of NaOH solution and anhydrous borax. The
compressive strengths of these materials reached 64 MPa, after
90 days of hardening [15]. According to these authors, the pres-
ence of B–O bonds in the boroaluminosilicate structure could
explain the high values of the compressive strengths; moreover,
the microstructure of boroaluminosilicate geopolymers is com-
pletely different from the one of traditional aluminosilicate
geopolymers [15,16].
Williams and van Riessen [17] obtained a new class of materials
with boron content by the alkali activation of silica fume with a
mixture of NaOH solution and anhydrous borax; these materials,
called alkali activated borosilicate inorganic polymers (AABSIP),
have compressive strengths comprised between 45 MPa and
Table 1
Oxide and mineralogical composition of fly ash (F).
Oxide composition (wt.%) LOI SiO2
6.05 40.41
Mineralogical composition Iron calcium oxide (PDF 74-1860); iron oxide (PDF 84-0307); aluminum silicon oxide (mullite-synthetic) (PDF 82-1237); calcium
aluminum silicate (anorthite) (PDF 76-0948); silicon oxide (quartz) (PDF 83-2465)
Table 2
The composition of studied AABSIP.
Sample MG wt% Na2B4O7 wt%
RB 60 – –
MGB 40.5 19.5
MGBF 36.45 19.5
299
56 MPa. According to these authors, the microstructure of AABSIP
is similar to the one of geopolymers i.e. a porous, glassy matrix
with some non dissolved silica particles and borax crystals [17].
The above mentioned studies focused on different aspects
regarding the properties and application of geopolymers/alkali
activated inorganic polymers with boron content i.e. controlled
setting time [14], high mechanical strength [15,16] and neutron
shielding application [17]; therefore, to the best of our knowledge,
we present for the first time in this paper results regarding the
thermal behavior of AABSIP based on waste glass.
Previous results obtained on geopolymers based on waste glass
powder showed a low hydrolytic stability of these materials due to
the presence as main reaction products of soluble sodium
silicate (aluminate) hydrates [6,8,9]; therefore, in this study we
used also fly ash in some formulation, in the attempt to improve
the hydrolytic stability of AABSIP materials.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
Mixed waste glass powder (MG) was obtained by the grinding
of cullet with various colors, from a glass recycling facility.
The main compounds of this soda-lime waste glass powder are:
silica (70.45 wt%), alkalis (Na2Oeq = Na2O + 0.658K2O) 13.25 wt%,
calcium oxide (9.75 wt%), aluminium oxide (2.24 wt%) and iron
oxide (1.65 wt%). The Blaine specific surface area of MG powder
was 3265 cm2/g.
Fly ash, a by-product resulted in the combustion of pulverized
coal in a thermal power plant, was used as solid component for
inorganic polymer preparation. The Blaine specific surface area of
this material was of 4594 cm2/g. The oxide and mineralogical com-
positions of fly ash are presented in Table 1.
The anhydrous borax was obtained by the thermal treatment of
borax (Na2B4O710H2O) at 150 °C for 30 min followed by a second
thermal treatment at 300 °C for 15 h [17].
The formulations of AABSIP specimens are based on a recipe
proposed by Williams & Van Riessen [17], and are presented in
Table 2.
MGB was prepared by mixing the solid component (MG glass
powder) with the liquid component i.e. a solution obtained in
two steps: i) dissolution of NaOH pellets in water, and ii) addition
of anhydrous borax (Na2B4O7).
After the borax addition the solution was fast converted into a
gel like phase. This solution was mixed with glass powder (MG)
or with mixtures of glass powder and fly ash (MGBF). The worka-
bility of the paste was initially good but rapidly decreased and
the material stiffened in few minutes. In order to obtain more
Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO SO3 SiO2/Al2O3
19.02 13.82 12.5 2.59 5.43 2.21
Fly ash wt% NaOH wt% Distilled water wt%
9.3 30.7
– 9.3 30.7
4.05 9.3 30.7
300 Taha H. Abood Al Saadi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 136 (2017) 298–306

18000 in the oven up to the normal temperature (20 ± 2 °C). Each thermal
NaBO2 .2H2O- PDF 081-1512
treatment experiment was carried out in duplicate.
16000

14000 2.2. Methods

12000
The mineralogical composition of fly ash and AABSIP pastes was
10000 assessed by X ray diffraction (XRD) using a Shimadzu XRD 6000
I (cps)

diffractometer. The XRD spectra were obtained using a monochro-

8000
matic CuKa radiation (k = 1.5406 Å), range 2h from 5 to 50 degree.
6000 The microstructure was assessed with two Scanning Electron
Microscopes (SEM) – Hitachi S2600N and FEI Inspect F50 High Res-
4000
olution. All image captures were performed via secondary electron
2000 detection in high vacuum mode.
The SEM analyses were performed both on fracture and on pol-
0
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 ished specimens. The polished specimens were obtained by their
2 θ degree surrounding with epoxy resin, curing, cutting and mechanically
polishing with abrasive discs. The polished specimens were used
Fig. 1. XRD patterns of dried gel obtained by mixing sodium hydroxide solution
with anhydrous borax.
for the evaluation of pore structure.
The mass losses of thermally treated pastes were calculated
with the formula:
DM ¼ ½ðMa  Mb Þ=Mb   100 ð%Þ ð1Þ
information about this process, the gel-like phase, resulted after
the addition of anhydrous borax to NaOH solution, was dried at where Ma = specimen’s mass after thermal treatment; Mb = speci-
60 °C for 24 h and analyzed by XRD and SEM. men’s mass before thermal treatment.
Pastes were prepared with the formulation presented in Table 2 The volume change was calculated with the formula:
and cast in prismatic molds (15  15  60 mm); the molds were
covered with cling film and cured for 24 h in an oven at 60 °C, then
DV ¼ ½ðVa  Vb Þ=Vb   100 ð%Þ ð2Þ
de-molded and cured in air at 20 °C up to 7 days. The paste speci- where Va = specimen volume after thermal treatment (cm3);
mens were then subjected to thermal treatment in an electric fur- Vb = specimen volume before thermal treatment (cm3).
nace, at different temperatures (500 °C up to 850 °C) for 1 h. The Hydrolytic stability of AABSIP with/without fly ash was deter-
heating rate was 10 °C/min and the specimens were slow cooled mined with the method used by Vancea and Lazau [18] for the

a b

c d
Fig. 2. SEM micrographs of dried material formed by the mixing sodium hydroxide solution with anhydrous borax.
 Taha H. Abood Al Saadi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 136 (2017) 298–306
assessment of hydrolytic stability of glass foams; the method is
described in ISO 719-1985 [19]. This method determines the
hydrolytic resistance of glass grains in hot water and consists in
keeping 2 g of material, for 60 min in 50 ml de-ionized water at
98 °C. A volume of 25 ml of the obtained solution is titrated with
0.01 M HCl solution. The volume of HCl needed for neutralization
is recorded in order to calculate the equivalent Na2O extracted.
In order to assess the influence of the fly ash addition and curing
condition on the specimens behavior during the thermal treat-
ment, MGB and MGBF paste specimens, after the initial thermal
treatment at 60 °C for 24 h, were cured in an environment satu-
rated with moisture (R.H. 95%) for 30 days. After curing in the
humid environment, the specimens were thermally treated at
600 °C and 650 °C and their swelling was visually assessed. Volume
changes were also recorded and calculated with formula (2).
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Composition and microstructure of AABSIP
As previously mentioned the addition of anhydrous borax (Na2-
B4O7) to NaOH solution resulted in the formation of a gel-like
phase; after the addition of MG or MG + fly ash mixture, the work-
ability of the system rapidly decreased. The increase of viscosity
was mentioned also by Williams and van Riessen [17], but no
explanation was provided for this process.
In order to obtain more information, the obtained gel-like phase
resulted after the addition of anhydrous borax to NaOH solution
was dried at 60 °C for 24 h (same conditions used for the thermal
treatment of AABSIP) and analyzed by XRD and SEM.
The XRD pattern of dried gel is presented in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3. SEM micrographs of MGB.
301
On the XRD patterns of the dried gel, one can assess the specific
peaks for sodium metaborate dihydrate (NaBO22H2O). According
to literature data we assume the formation of sodium metaborate
tetrahydrate (NaBO24H2O) [20,21] followed by its dehydration,
during the thermal treatment at 60 °C, to sodium metaborate dihy-
drate (NaBO22H2O) [21–23].
The SEM micrographs of the dried material are presented in
Fig. 2.
One can assess in these figures an important amount of
elongated crystals (slim or flat like rod crystals – see arrows in
Fig. 2b, c) which seems to grow from a phase less structured –
see dotted circles (Fig. 2d). One can also assess some plate
like structures (see arrows in Fig. 2c,d). Both types of crystals/
structures can be attributed to sodium metaborate dihydrate
[24,25]. According to Qin et al. [25] the morphology of sodium
metaborate dihydrate depends on temperature and solution
suprasaturation; plate like crystals forms at high temperatures
(40–50 °C) and elongated crystals forms at lower temperature
(30 °C) – flat rods at low supersaturation and slim rods at high
supersaturation.
The microstructure of alkali activated inorganic polymers MGB
and MGBF is presented in Figs. 3 and 4.
In the microstructure of specimen without fly ash (MGB – Fig. 3)
one can assess two distinct phases:
- agglomeration of disc shaped or polyhedral particles (Fig. 3a, b)
characteristic for aluminosilicate gel [26] or crystalline zeolites
[27,28];
- thin or flat rod like crystals, similar with those assessed in the
dried gel-like phase formed in the reaction of NaOH solution
with anhydrous borax (Fig. 2).
302 Taha H. Abood Al Saadi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 136 (2017) 298–306

a b

c d
Fig. 4. SEM micrographs of MGBF.

NaBO2.2H2O 006-0122
NaCa2Al5.Si5O20.6H2O 002-0780
I (CPS)
Na2SiO3 082-0604 Na2B4O7.5H2O 007- 0277 and elongated flat rods, without providing and identification of
(Ca,Na)4Al3(Al,Si)3Si6O24 017-0754 SiO2 083-2466 these phases; according to these authors, in high strength boroalu-
minosilicate binders, the required energy for crack propagation is
divided between the numerous fine elongated crystals.
The presence of sodium metaborate hydrate in these formula-
tions can be benefic for two reasons: i) it is a compound commonly
found in the manufacture of adhesives, therefore it can contribute

MGB to the increase of the materials’ adherence, coherence and

strength; ii) due to its specific morphology (elongated crystals)
can contribute to the increase of mechanical strength of AABSIP
[15,16].
The X-ray diffraction patterns of MGB and MGBF are presented
MGBF in Fig. 5. The XRD patterns suggests the presence in MGB paste of
different types of sodium (calcium) silicate (aluminate) hydrates
along with a small amount of sodium metaborate hydrate. In the
F
paste with fly ash (MGBF), one can assess also some peaks specific
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 for SiO2 (quartz) – the main crystalline compound present in fly
2 θ (degree) ash and tincalconite (Na2B4O75H2O).

Fig. 5. XRD spectra of fly ash (F) and AABSIP materials (MGB and MGBF). 3.2. Influence of thermal treatment on the main properties of AABSIP

These data suggests the coexistence of sodium metaborate
hydrate with sodium (calcium) silicate (aluminate) compounds
with different crystallinity degrees.
A similar microstructure is assessed for the paste with fly ash
content (MGBF) i.e. a mixture of sodium (calcium) silicate (alumi-
nate) phases with different crystallinity degrees and agglomeration
of plate and elongated crystals (see arrows in Fig. 4c, d) which can
be attributed to a sodium borate hydrate phase.
Nazari et al. [15,16] reported also this specific microstructure
for boroaluminosilicate geopolymers, with ‘‘star–like needles”
In order to assess the thermal/fire behavior of these materials,
paste specimens without borax (RB) and with borax (MGB, MGBF),
cured the first day at 60 °C and up to 7 days at 20 °C, were sub-
jected to thermal treatment for 1 h at temperatures comprised
between 500 °C and 850 °C. The specimens were slow cooled in
the oven.
The visual aspect of paste specimens, before and after thermal
treatment, is presented in Table 3.
From the data presented in Table 3, it can be observed that ther-
mal treatment at 500 °C of the paste without borax (RB) causes the
 Taha H. Abood Al Saadi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 136 (2017) 298–306
Table 3
The visual aspects of paste specimens before and after thermal treatment at different temperatures (top and side views).
cracking of the sample; when the thermal treatment temperature
increases to 650 °C, the specimens starts to alter their shape
(deformation), swell and the porosity increases. Thermal treatment
at 850 °C causes a partial melting of the material at the surface of
the specimen (self-glazing) but the internal porosity remain high
(see the side view of the specimen).
For the composition with borax (MGB), the paste specimens
starts to bend and swell at a lower temperature i.e. 500 °C; a high
increase of MGB volume and porosity is noticed when the speci-
men is thermally treated at 600 °C and 650 °C. MGB starts to melt
when thermal treatment is performed at 700 °C. It has to be noted
the decrease with approximately 100 °C of the temperature at
which these specimens starts to swell and melt as compared with
the specimens without borax (RB).
The partial substitution of mixed glass powder with fly ash do
not substantially modifies the specimens’ behavior at high temper-
atures; thermal treatment performed at 500 °C and 600 °C deter-
303
mines the bending, partial melting and local swelling of the
specimens. An important volume increase is noticed for MGBF
specimens when is thermally treated at 650 °C.
The microstructure of paste specimens thermally treated at
500 °C and 650 °C, was assessed by SEM, both in fracture and pol-
ished specimens. The SEM images are presented in Fig. 6. For the
specimen without borax (RB), the thermal treatment at 650 °C
leads to the increase of internal porosity (see Fig. 6a); pores with
irregular shapes and sizes comprised between 1 and 50 lm are
present in this specimen. As reported in previous papers [7,10], this
important increase of the porosity is due to the dehydration and
transformation of sodium silicate (aluminate) hydrates formed by
activation of glass powder with NaOH solution. The size of pores
formed in the paste with borax (Fig. 6e, f), thermally treated at
500 °C, increases up to 100 lm; for the paste with borax and fly
ash (Fig. 6b, c, d), thermally treated at 650 °C, one can notice the
presence of large pores (500 lm up to 1 mm), as well as small
304 Taha H. Abood Al Saadi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 136 (2017) 298–306
Fig. 6. SEM micrographs of paste specimens thermally treated at different temperatures: a) RB 650 °C (fracture); b), c) MGBF 650 °C (fracture) and d) MGBF 650 °C (polished
surface); e) MGB 500 °C (fracture) and d) MGB 500 °C (polished surface).
round pores (5–100 lm) in the walls of the larger pores (Fig. 6c).
The higher porosity of specimens with borax (MGB and MGBF) as
compared with RB can be explained by the superposition of two
processes that determines the volume and porosity increase: i)
the dehydration and transformation of sodium (calcium) silicate
(aluminate) hydrates formed by activation of glass powder with
NaOH solution and ii) the dehydration and transformation of boron
containing phases; Kavas et al. [13] observed, using heating micro-
scopy, a continuous release of gases during the thermal treatment
of boron-containing wastes and quartz sand mixtures.
Mass and volume changes of thermally treated specimens were
calculated with the formulae 1 and 2 (§2.2) and are presented in
Fig. 7.
Mass losses (over 25%) were recorded for all thermally treated
specimens (Fig. 7a). This mass loss is due to dehydration of (cal-
cium) sodium silicate (aluminate) hydrates and sodium borate
hydrates – for MGB and MGBF specimens. This explains the higher
mass loss recorded for MGB sample (with 5–15%) as compared
with the sample without borax (RB). The smaller mass loss
recorded for the specimen with fly ash, as compared with MGB,
can be due to a lower amount of sodium (calcium) silicate
(aluminate) hydrates formed in this composition due to the partial
substitutions of reactive glass powder with fly ash – with a lower
reactivity vs. alkaline activator solution [29].
As previously presented, the thermal treatment at 600 °C and
650 °C determines an important volume and porosity increase for
MGB (Table 3 and Fig. 7b). The specimen without borax (RB) shows
a volume decrease (contraction) when the thermal treatment is
performed at 500 °C and 600 °C and starts to expand after 650 °C
– Fig. 7b.
3.3. Stability in humid environment
The results obtained in previous studies [6,8,9,29] showed a
high solubility of alkali activated inorganic polymers based on
waste glass powder. This can represent a serious drawback if these
materials are used for the production of construction materials or
as intumescent materials. Therefore, in this study, was also
assessed the hydrolytic stability of the AABSIP materials; this
was appreciate considering the amount of Na2O equivalent solubi-
lized after keeping the material for 60 min in deionized water at
98 °C [18,19]. The Na2O equivalent values obtained for the pastes
 Taha H. Abood Al Saadi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 136 (2017) 298–306 305

a 0 400
MGB 1d/60°C+6d/20°C MGB 1d/60°C+29d(humid air)
MGBF 1d/60°C+6d/20°C MGBF 1d/60°C+29d(humid air)
-5 350

-10 300

-15 250
∆M (%)

V(%)
-20 200

-25
150

-30
100
RB MGB MGBF
-35
50
500°C 600°C 650°C 700°C 850°C

0
b 400
RB MGB MGBF 600°C 650°C
350

300 Fig. 10. Influence of curing medium on the volume changes of AABSIP.

250

200
∆V (%)

150
100
50
0
-50
500°C 600°C
Fig. 7. Mass loss (a) and volume change (b) of RB and AABSIP (MGB, MGBF) pastes
after thermal treatment at different temperatures.
cured 7 days (1 day at 60 °C and 6 days at 20 °C) are higher for
AABSIP without fly ash i.e. 177 mg/g (MGB) and 121 mg/g (MGBF);
nevertheless, these values are very high suggesting a high solubil-
ity of the materials in water explained both by the presence of
sodium silicate (aluminate) hydrates as well as borate phases with
high solubility in water [30].
However, the previous method used for the assessment of
hydrolytic stability is too aggressive (solubilization in hot water)
if the use of these materials is intended as intumescent materials
or for thermal and sound insulations. Therefore, another method
was also used in order to evaluate the stability of AABSIP materials
in humid environment; as presented in § 2.2, the MGB and MGBF
paste specimens cured the first day at 60 °C and then kept in
humid environment (R.H. = 95%) for 30 days; after curing in the
650°C humid environment, the specimens were thermally treated at
600 °C and 650 °C and their swelling was visually assessed and
compared with the swelling of MGB and MGBF cured in air
(R.H. = 45%) and thermally treated at the same temperatures –
Figs. 8 and 9.
The curing of MGB (without fly ash) for 29 days in moisture
room (95% R.H.) has a negative influence on the volume (and
porosity) increase recorded when the specimens are thermally
treated (Figs. 8 and 10).
For the geopolymer with fly ash addition (MGBF – Figs. 9 and
10), curing in moist air (R.H.95%) has a lower influence
(as compared with MGB) and it is probably due to improved
hydrolytic stability when in the system is introduced fly
ash.

MGB (cured in humid environment) MGB (cured in air)

Fig. 8. MGB after thermal treatment at 600 °C for 1 h.

MGBF (cured in humid environment) MGBF (cured in air)

Fig. 9. MGBF after thermal treatment at 650 °C for 1 h.
306 Taha H. Abood Al Saadi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 136 (2017) 298–306
4. Conclusions
Alkali activated borosilicate inorganic polymers can be obtained
by the alkali activation of waste glass powder with a NaOH solu-
tion in which anhydrous borax was previously dissolved.
The presence of borax in this system modifies the nature of
reaction products. Along with sodium (calcium) silicate (alumi-
nate) hydrates in this system was also assessed the presence of
sodium metaborate dihydrate, compound resulted from the reac-
tion of borax with NaOH; this process was facilitated by the initial
curing of AABSIP at 60 °C.
The microstructure of AABSIP consists in a mixture of agglomer-
ation of disc shaped or polyhedral particles (characteristic for alu-
minosilicate gel and/or crystalline zeolites) and elongated crystals
specific for sodium metaborate hydrate.
AABSIP have the ability to swell during the thermal treatment
increasing their volume and porosity. The temperature at which
these materials swell is smaller as compared with the one assessed
for the inorganic polymers obtained by the alkaline activation with
NaOH solution of waste glass powder; the higher values for the
volume and porosity increases are recorded at temperatures com-
prised between 600 °C and 650 °C for AABSIP, different from the
inorganic polymers without borax for which the highest swelling
is recorded at 850 °C.
The presence of sodium metaborate hydrate, could contribute
to the increase of AABSIP coherence and strength and could also
contribute to their intumescent behavior (important increase of
volume and porosity during the thermal treatment /fire exposure).
The partial substitution of glass powder with fly ash (10%) do
not substantially modifies the AABSIP behavior at high tempera-
tures i.e. the higher volume increase is recorded for the specimens
thermally treated at 650 °C.
The stability in humid environment (moisture) of AABSIP with
fly ash (MGBF) is higher as compared to the composition without
fly ash (MGB). The intumescent behavior (i.e. swelling as a result
of heat/fire exposure) is less affected for the AABSIP pastes with
fly ash when their curing take place in humid medium (moisture)
as compared to the composition without fly ash.
Two potential utilizations were identified for this type of AAB-
SIP i.e. as intumescent materials for passive fire protection or as
thermal/sound insulation (with high porosity). Future studies are
compulsory to optimize these compositions and to improve the
specific properties.
Acknowledgements
Taha H. Abood Al Saadi gratefully acknowledges the financial
support of Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific
Research.
The SEM analyzes were possible due to EU-funding project
POSCCE-A2-O2.2.1-2013-1/Prioritary Axe 2, Project No.
638/12.03.2014, ID 1970, SMIS-CSNR code 48652.
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