Improvement of Kaolin Based Geopolymer Coated Wood Substrates for Use in NaOH Molarity

Geopolymer system which has high demand, especially among carbon conscious end users resulted in various research works on suitable mix designs of geopolymeric materials. There are certain factors that influence the properties of geopolymers such as composition, type and relative amount of alkali activator, NaOH concentration, specific surface composition of source materials, and condition during the initial period of the geopolymerization process. Focus of our work is on the degree of influence NaOH concentration has towards mechanical and bonding properties of kaolin geopolymer coated lumber wood. Other crucial parameters were kept constant at optimum that was deduced based on our earlier findings. The final idea is to create kaolin based coating material that is compatible with wood substrates which leads to a novel finding. To best of our knowledge, no researchers had attempted to do similar work before. Kaolin geopolymer coated lumber wood was prepared with varying NaOH concentration ranging from 2M to 14M. These pepared samples were tested after 7, 28 and 90 days to also analyse the changes in properties of kaolin geopolymer coated lumber wood over time. Samples were then subjected to mechanical and bonding testings such as flexural, adhesive, and water absorption as well. Morphological studies such as scanning electron microscopy were also performed to further evident findings from all testings.