Affiliations 

  • 1 Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Arau 02600, Malaysia
  • 2 Center of Excellence Geopolymer and Green Technology (CEGeoGTech), Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Kangar 01000, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Physics, Częstochowa University of Technology, 42-201 Częstochowa, Poland
  • 4 Faculty of Civil Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Kuantan 26300, Malaysia
  • 5 Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, University POLITEHNICA Bucharest, 313 Splaiul Independentei, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
Materials (Basel), 2022 Oct 28;15(21).
PMID: 36363159 DOI: 10.3390/ma15217567

Abstract

Geopolymers have been intensively explored over the past several decades and considered as green materials and may be synthesised from natural sources and wastes. Global attention has been generated by the use of kaolin and calcined kaolin in the production of ceramics, green cement, and concrete for the construction industry and composite materials. The previous findings on ceramic geopolymer mix design and factors affecting their suitability as green ceramics are reviewed. It has been found that kaolin offers significant benefit for ceramic geopolymer applications, including excellent chemical resistance, good mechanical properties, and good thermal properties that allow it to sinter at a low temperature, 200 °C. The review showed that ceramic geopolymers can be made from kaolin with a low calcination temperature that have similar properties to those made from high calcined temperature. However, the choice of alkali activator and chemical composition should be carefully investigated, especially under normal curing conditions, 27 °C. A comprehensive review of the properties of kaolin ceramic geopolymers is also presented, including compressive strength, chemical composition, morphological, and phase analysis. This review also highlights recent findings on the range of sintering temperature in the ceramic geopolymer field which should be performed between 600 °C and 1200 °C. A brief understanding of kaolin geopolymers with a few types of reinforcement towards property enhancement were covered. To improve toughness, the role of zirconia was highlighted. The addition of zirconia between 10% and 40% in geopolymer materials promises better properties and the mechanism reaction is presented. Findings from the review should be used to identify potential strategies that could develop the performance of the kaolin ceramic geopolymers industry in the electronics industry, cement, and biomedical materials.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.