Novel geopolymer based composites with enhanced ductility

Geopolymer materials have been proposed for various applications due to their excellent fire resistance and low processing cost. One requirement that geopolymer composites need to meet for structural applications is graceful failure, as catastrophic failure during service can result in significant loss of life. In this paper, the properties of novel low cost composites made by infiltrating stainless steel mesh with geopolymer resin are reported. Four point flexure tests on these composites showed metal-like yielding behavior instead of catastrophic failure and the “yield strength” was significantly higher than the flexure strength of the geopolymer matrix. Exposure to high temperatures, 800 and 1,050°C, resulted in the “yield strength” decreasing to ∼59 and ∼44% level respectively compared to the strength of as-processed samples. However, the good ductility was still retained after the high temperature treatment, which makes this novel composite a strong candidate for the applications where catastrophic failure upon fire/high temperature exposure needs to be avoided.