Rheology parameters of alkali-activated geopolymeric concrete binders

Industrially . a material has a practical interest if a shape. however complex. can be produced quickly and at low cost. Given the characteristics of the geopolymeric fresh pastes , colloidal dispersions featuring temporary structural stability prior to the polymerization process, some forming methods are eligible as best suitable for this purpose. As already mentioned above, the scientific and technical literature is unfortunately not very rich in examples on this topic in relation to the geopolymeric systems. For such a reason, in this section we briefly describe not only the most commonly used forming methods, but also those of potential applicaiton that have only received a limited and quick reference: casting, extrusion, double-diaphragm forming, compression molding, injection molding, hand lay-up, rotational molding, shaping by 3D printer. In some cases it has been possible to trace only a brief reference about the experimentation without any additional information on the actual efficiency of the forming technique. Nevertheless, the techniques which are presented in the following are all potentially usable dependently on the characteristics of the geopolymer paste before consolidation which have to match the parameters requested by each single forming processes.