Soluble silica from palm oil clinker was extracted using Laine’s method. It involved two major steps, namely water reflux and distillation. The use of 480 g of POCP and 12 hours of distillation in the extraction experiment resulted in 53.50% of dissolved silica, which was the highest gain among the trial experiments and was chosen as an optimum parameter for the subsequent characterisation analysis. In addition, its effect on cement hydration was studied by including it as a filler in mortar mixtures. Mortar with 7.50% of extracted silica gained high strength in the early days of curing and performed well throughout the maturing age. The rapid hardening properties of soluble silica-based mortar would promote the potential of soluble silica as an additive for rapid hardening.

Non-destructive testing (NDT) is generally used to estimate the compressive strength of concrete material without compromising its structural integrity. However, the available testing methods on the market have particular limitations that may restrict the accuracy of the results. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a new technique for measuring the compressive strength of geopolymer concrete using infrared imaging analysis and Thermal Diameter Variation (TDV) rate. The compressive strength range was designed within the target strength of 20, 30 and 40 MPa. The infrared image was captured on the preheated concrete surface using FLIR-ONE infrared camera. Based on the correlation between TDV rate and compressive strength, higher accuracy was obtained in the orange contour with an R2 of 0.925 than in the red contour with an R2 of 0.8867. It is apparent that infrared imaging analysis has excellent reliability to be used as an alternative NDT by focusing on the warmer region during the procedure.

Escalating quantity of industrial by-products generated, including oil palm shell (OPS) and palm oil fuel ash (POFA ) of the palm oil industries, has been a concern to many analysts. They are mostly disposed off as wastes that would heavily impact the environment quality. Therefore, this paper aimed to investigate the possibility of consuming these wastes by using OPS and POFA as replacement materials for fine aggregates in the concrete mixture. The mixtures were prepared by integrating unground palm oil fuel ash of 0%, 10%, and 20% (by weight of sand) to produce lightweight concrete. The experiments observed the mechanical performance of these specimens for 180 curing days. The results show the enhancement of concrete strength relative to the control mixture by using 10% of ash. This is owing to void filling mechanism and product of pozzolanic reaction due to the fine particles of the ash.

This research was conducted to examine the corrosion behaviour of mild steel bar embedded in geopolymer paste based fly ash Class F during curing and non-curing process. The geopolymer paste was fabricated by blending in the fly ash with alkaline activators (NaOH solution with molarity of 12 M, 2.5 ratio of solution Na2SiO3/NaOH). The paste was produced in 50 mm × 50 mm × 50 mm mould where the mild steel bar of 100 mm (length) × 12 mm (diameter) was embedded at the center of geopolymer paste. This is to comprehend the corrosion behaviour of mild steel embedded in geopolymer paste with and without curing process. Process of curing is carried out for 24 hours at a temperature of 60°C in oven. While on the contrary, the non-curing process will only be leave at room temperature. Both samples were tested after 28 days of curing to determine the corrosion behaviour, phase analysis and morphology analysis. In accordance with the morphology analysis, it shows that the fly ash was totally reacted with alkaline solutions in curing geopolymer paste sample while the non-curing geopolymer paste has shown the unreacted fly ash with high number of pores. The phase analysis of mild steel embedded in this geopolymer paste during curing and without curing process has proven that the presence of new crystallographic peak which also known as passive layer occurred. The potential values result by OCP testing shows the curing sample has highest potential values as compared to the non-curing sample ones.