The shrinkage of alkali activated fly ash

In this study, the autogenous and drying shrinkage of alkali activated fly ash (AAFA) pastes prepared with different contents of sodium silicate solution are reported. A higher amount of both Na2O and SiO2 resulted in a larger autogenous and drying shrinkage. Although a large autogenous shrinkage was obtained during the first 1–3 days, cracking was not observed in the ellipse ring tests. In AAFA pastes, water was not a reactant, but mainly acted as a medium. The experiment results indicate that the autogenous shrinkage of AAFA is not caused by the well-known self-desiccation process that happened in cement paste, but related to the continuous reorganization and polymerization of the aluminosilicate gel structure. AAFA pastes with a larger drying shrinkage exhibited a higher weight loss. The different microstructures lead to the different drying shrinkage of these AAFA mixtures.