Towards designing reactive glasses for alkali activation: Understanding the origins of alkaline reactivity of Na-Mg aluminosilicate glasses

Alkali-activated materials (AAMs), sometimes called geopolymers, are eco-friendly cementitious materials with reduced carbon emissions when compared to ordinary Portland cement. However, the availability of most precursors used for AAM production may decline in the future because of changes in industrial sectors. Thus, new precursors must be developed. Recently there has been increased interest in synthetic glass precursors. One major concern with using synthetic glasses is ensuring that they react sufficiently under alkaline conditions. Reactivity is a necessary, although not sufficient, requirement for a suitable precursor for AAMs. This work involves the synthesis, characterization, and estimation of alkaline reactivity of Na-Mg aluminosilicate glasses. Structural characterization showed that replacing Na with Mg led to more depolymerization. Alkaline reactivity studies indicated that, as Mg replaced Na, reactivity of glasses increased at first, reached an optimal value, and then declined. This trend in reactivity could not be explained by the conventional parameters used for estimating glass reactivity: the non-bridging oxygen fraction (which predicts similar reactivity for all glasses) and optical basicity (which predicts a decrease in reactivity with an increase in Mg replacement). The reactivity of the studied glasses was found to depend on two main factors: depolymerization (as indicated by structural characterization) and optical basicity. Depolymerization dominated initially, which led to an increase in reactivity, while the effect of optical basicity dominated later, leading to a decrease in reactivity. Hence, while designing reactive synthetic glasses for alkali activation, structural study of glasses should be given due consideration in addition to the conventional factors.