Dear mustapha,
Please check the link may be helpful.
https://www.geopolymer.org/faq/alkali-activated-materials-geopolymers/
Regards
Geopolymers are AAM.
The term geopolymer has created confusion in the community; some call any AAM a geopolymer.
I prefer the name alkali activated cement or inorganic polymers.
I agree with Ivan's answer above, geopolymer is a confusing term. However, I'll possibly complicate matters a bit more by saying that I would consider a geopolymer to have a low calcium content, and that an alkali activated cement would normally have a higher calcium content.
Alkali activated materials started earlier, this mechanism, from my point of view, was firstly used in 1774, Loriot mixed slag powder and hydrated lime together to prepare mortars. Then in 1865, the commercial use of lime-slag mortars was appeared in Germany. The early applications were mainly use alkaline earth metals components to active high calcium-content slag. Followed in 1930s-1940s Kuhl and Purdon use KOH and NaOH to activate slag and test the setting properties. Further, in mid-1950s, Prof. Glukhovsky use sodium silicate solution or NaOH or KOH as activator to produce alkali activated slag concrete products. The extensive use of this products was in 1980s in USSR. This is the use of alkali metal compound as the activator for high-calcium raw materials.
The terminology 'Geopolymer' was firstly proposed by Prof. Joseph Davidovits in 1970s, the raw materials for geopolymer should be metakaolin and the low calcium fly ash. Which extent the scope of raw materials for AAMs.
As Doha answered, Prof. Davidovits claims that geopolymers are not AAMs mainly from the differences in polymerization process. The details could be found either from the link that Doha provided or the homepage of Prof. Davidovits on the Youtube.
Wish this brief developing history will be helpful to you.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Books