Evidence Hub

Visualising Geopolymerisation Processes Using Scanning X-Ray Diffraction and Fluorescence Microscopy

van Riessen GA, Hinsley GN, Kewish CM, van Riessen A

Materials (Basel, Switzerland), 2024

Abstract

In situ observation of the dissolution of metakaolin followed by the condensation of geopolymer was performed by a combination of synchrotron X-ray fluorescence microscopy and scanning X-ray diffraction microscopy. New insight into the complex geopolymerisation process was obtained by simultaneously acquiring compositional and morphological information. The combination of selected alkali and experimental conditions produced a geopolymer with the targeted composition but resulted in the complete and rapid dissolution of metakaolin followed by immediate geopolymer formation. The geopolymer microstructure continued to evolve, along with pore growth, over several hours.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free