Study of thermal conductivity of different types of alkali-activated concrete: a comprehensive review

Surajit Hore () and Amit Shiuly ()
Additional contact information
Surajit Hore: Jadavpur University
Amit Shiuly: Jadavpur University

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2025, vol. 27, issue 3, No 3, 5525-5572

Abstract: Abstract Thermal conductivity (TC) of concrete is an important factor which may be considered as the key factor toward transmission of heat through conduction. The less TC of concrete, the more the structure is habitable for the mankind to reside in. Cement concrete is popularly used in construction industries. However, alkali-activated concrete (AAC) is a sustainable alternative to traditional concrete, which can be used in construction industry. The AAC is prepared using base material and activator. Fly ash (FA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), metakaolin (MK) and silica fume (SF), calcined clay (CC), etc., having silica and alumina content, can be used as base material. On the other hand, the alkali like NaOH/KOH and Na2SiO3/K2SiO3 can be used as activating agent. This paper aims to review the variations in thermal conductivity among different types of AAC and elucidate the underlying factors based on previous investigations by various researchers. Additionally, this review provides insights for the development of AAC with reduced thermal conductivity. The findings of these reviews consistently demonstrate that a decrease in porosity or an increase in temperature results in higher AAC density, leading to lower thermal conductivity. Notably, the lowest thermal conductivity values were achieved in cellular lightweight geopolymer concrete (CLGC) specimens containing a natural protein-based foam agent. Lastly, this review synthesizes relationships between thermal conductivity, compressive strength (CS) and density (BD) of AAC, drawing from prior research findings.

Keywords: Thermal conductivity; Alkali-activated concrete; Binder; Base material; Activator; Compressive strength; Density (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-023-04118-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:endesu:v:27:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10668-023-04118-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10668

DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-04118-8

Access Statistics for this article

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development is currently edited by Luc Hens

More articles in Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().