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Additive manufacturing with geopolymer foams: A critical review of current progress Cover

Additive manufacturing with geopolymer foams: A critical review of current progress

Open Access
|Mar 2025

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Process of producing the slag. Adapted from Hanani Ismail et al. paper, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ [22].

Figure 2

Geopolymer foam using foaming agent: (a) hydrogen peroxide and (b) aluminum powder (results from personal data).

Figure 3

Microscopic results of samples using 2 wt% H2O2 with the variation of PVA (results from personal data).

Figure 4

Microscopic results of samples using 2 wt% H2O2 with the variation of vegetable oil (results from personal data).

Figure 5

The geopolymerization foam process (results from personal data).

Figure 6

3D printed elements (results from personal data).

Chemical contents of industrial waste as an aluminosilicate source_

Chemical composition (%)Fly ashSlagSilica fume
SiO2 52.3139.892.05
Al2O3 28.5911.20.72
Fe2O3 6.221.21.31
CaO4.0134.40.46
MgO2.057.6
K2O1.621.51
SO3 1.790.460.41
N2O0.20.45
References[37][10][38]

Effect of foaming agents on the compressive strength and density_

Foaming agentCompressive strength and densityRef.
H2O2 Increasing H2O2 concentration from 1 to 3.5% in geopolymer foam leads to a decrease in compressive strength (44.81–3.2 MPa) and density (1,021–142 kg/m3)[94]
Using 0.1–1% H2O2 reduces the compressive strength from 5.9 to 0.26 MPa and the apparent density from 1,100 to 230 kg/m3 [95]
Al powderThe use of Al powder with increasing percentages of 0.01–0.15% reduces the compressive strength (42.0–4.6 MPa) and density (1,830–1,031 kg/m3)[64]
1.5–5.0% of Al powder decreases the compressive strength from 4.35 to 0.9 MPa and density from 1,309 to 403 kg/m3 [96]

Reference relationships among density, compressive strength, porosity, and thermal conductivity of geopolymer foam_

PrecursorFASADensity (kg/m3)Compressive strength (MPa)Porosity (%)Thermal conductivity (W/(m k))Ref.
MetakaolinH2O2 Olive oil320–6100.2–3.975–870.147[103]
MetakaolinNa2O2 SDBS300–4600.6–1.672–810.085–0.115[104]
Fly ashH2O2 240–3400.60–0.3879–810.09–0.07[105]
MetakaolinH2O2 470–1,2100.37–6.0036–860.11–0.30[97]
FA, GGBSSDSRCA824–8381.3–1.842–710.270–0.360[106]
MetakaolinSLES690–1,0604.7–14.856–720.197–0.364[107]
FA, POFASika AER1,300–1,7008–1325–400.47–0.50[74]
FAH2O2 CSFS310–3801.45–1.6070–820.095–0.139[108]
FAH2O2 Calcium stearate150–2400.45–0.7588.94–91.940.0485–0.0594[109]
FAH2O2 Calcium stearate200–3001.06–2.8459–830.05223–0.0711[110]
HCFANatural protein844–2,1002.7–57.82.82–49.420.13–1.62[111]
MetakaolinH2O2 Vegetable oil370–7400.3–11.666–830.11–0.17[67]
MetakaolinH2O2 Tween 80300–7500.3–9.467–860.289–0.091[112]

Effect of agent material on the porosity of geopolymer foam_

Material agentEffect on porosityRef.
Foaming agentThe addition of aluminum powder at concentrations of 0.07–0.2% increased porosity from 47.9 to 58.4%, while H2O2 at 0.5–2% enhanced porosity from 37.9 to 44.9%[101]
Increasing the H2O2 concentration from 1 to 3.5% in geopolymer foam increased the porosity from 32.3 to 63.1%[94]
Stabilizing agentTween 80 as a surfactant, with a concentration ranging from 1 to 5%, increased the porosity from 38 to 86%[97]
Using olive oil as a stabilizing agent at concentrations ranging from 1.25 to 15% with the same H2O2 concentration reduced the porosity from 75.1 to 72.3%[67]
Alkaline solutionIncreased ratio of NaOH to Na2SiO3 enhanced the porosity from 55.6 to 66.3% while maintaining the same foaming agent concentration[99]
Increasing the Na2O ratio from 4 to 7% in an alkaline solution increased the porosity of the structure from about 61.6 to 68%[11]
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/msp-2025-0013 | Journal eISSN: 2083-134X | Journal ISSN: 2083-1331
Language: English
Page range: 115 - 132
Submitted on: Mar 13, 2025
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Accepted on: May 13, 2025
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Published on: Mar 31, 2025
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

© 2025 Wei-Chien Wang, Melati Sari Dewi, Wei-Ting Lin, Marek Hebda, published by Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.