Innovation and further researches

Chapter 13: Phosphate-based geopolymer
“Several laboratories are working on the inclusion of PO₄ units into sialate and sialate-siloxo sequences. Data have not been published, so far. Further research is needed on these materials that show promising potential applications.”

Chapter 14: Organic-mineral geopolymer
“Further research is needed in order to take advantage of the chemical compatibility of poly-organo-siloxane and mineral geopolymers. (…) Further research is needed on the geopolymerization mechanism in acid medium. (…) The previous examples show the potentiality of organo-mineral geopolymer compounds. Further research is needed.”

Chapter 17: Long-term durability
“As for technological applications of geopolymeric materials in waste management, any risk assessment must contain input from geological and geochemical analogues. The problem is the very low amount of available data on this topic. Further research is needed.

Chapter 21: Geopolymer-fiber composites
“In this Chapter, the best results involved the use of carbon or SiC fibers that are more expensive than E-glass. Future research will therefore take advantage of the geopolymeric systems outlined in Chapter 13 with phosphate based acidic matrix. This chemistry is not as aggressive to E-glass as the alkali driven poly(sialate) medium.”

The introduction of composites on a large scale in aircraft manufacture by Boeing and Airbus highlights the demand for fire- as well as heat-resistant geopolymer matrices.

Chapter 23: Geopolymer in ceramic processing
Introduce and develop LTGS for the production of low-cost building materials in developing countries with user-friendly geopolymeric ingredients.

Chapter 24: The manufacture of geopolymer cements
“We have learned in Chapter 19 that these dry mixes based on dry NaOH/KOH are corrosive in nature and may not be used (see in section 19.2, The need for user-friendly systems ). Research and development should therefore focus on innovative solutions involving the manufacture of ready to use, user-friendly, geopolymeric precursors. (…) Further research and development is needed on this very important technology.”

The major obstacle to the mass application of geopolymer cements comes from the chemical industry that is unable to manufacture the estimated 250-300 millions tonnes / year of alkali-silicates poly(siloxonates) needed for mass production of geopolymer cements, world-wide (presently ca. 15 millions tonnes / year). One must invent new methods of manufacture for poly(siloxonate) glasses, from geological raw-materials rich in K₂O and Na₂O, as in the European Research project GEOCISTEM (Brite-Euram 1994-1997).

Chapter 25: Geopolymer concrete
“When one adds together the properties described in this Chapter 25, and the chemical and physical parameters of geopolymer cements outlined in previous chapters, it becomes evident that geopolymer concrete is better than Portland cement concrete. Yet, further research is needed to apply and generalize to all geopolymer concrete types the results obtained by B.V. Rangan and his team.”