Synthesis of intumescent materials by alkali activation of glass waste using intercalated graphite additions

• Main Authors: Abood Al-Saadi, Taha H., Hameed Mohammad, Shyma, Daway, Entihaa G., Mejbel, Mohanad Kadhim
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Geopolymer pastes; Glass waste powder; Intumescent process; Thermal treatment
• ISSN: 2214-7853; 2214-7853
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2020.12.228

Intumescent materials are defined as the ability to swell when they are subjected to fire or thermal treatment. This paper presents the preparation of geopolymer pastes from glass waste powder without/with intercalated graphite (IG) powder (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3) wt.% additions by 5 M NaOH solution alkali activation. The Intercalated Graphite (IG) was prepared by mixing graphite powder (G) with Nitric Acid and Potassium permanganate in weight ratio (1:2:1) for 3 min. A thermal treatment was subjected to the hardened pastes between 400 °C and 800 °C, for 60 min to achieve a favorable porous microstructure. The result values of compressive strength were between 10 and 25 MPa. During the thermal treatment, a mass loss for all prepared paste specimens, ranging from 5.69 − 10.2% for the TG-N5 sample and between 8.27 and 9.4%, 7.06–11.02%, 8.12–9.97% for the (TGIG1-N5, TGIG2-N5 and TGIG3-N5) samples respectively the intercalated graphite additions recorded a decrease in the initial temperature of swelling at 500 °C (i.e. determined the swelling at temperature below 100 °C) as compared with the composition without addition, lightweight and volume increase of the specimens as well as the porosity (closed pores with various shapes and sizes) due to the intumescence process. Consequently, this type of materials could be used for fire protection in buildings, providing thermal and acoustic insulations or sealing the penetrations in walls preventing fire extension to adjacent rooms.