To sum-up: Alkali-Activated Materials (AAM) are NOT Polymers, so they cannot be called Geo-Polymers. AAMs are hydrates and Geopolymers are polymers. Geopolymers are NOT a subset of AAM because they are not a calcium hydrate alternative (no NASH, no KASH). Geopolymer is not a hydrate, because water does not participate in the structuration of the material. AAM and Geopolymers belong to two very different and separate chemistry systems (a hydrate/precipitate that is a monomer or a dimer versus a true polymer). Those who claim that both terms are synonyms are promoting a misleading scientific belief. Learn why by watching these four videos.
“Non-activated geopolymers” are the only TRUE geopolymers that provide the excellent properties you are expecting. AAM kills polymeric reaction.

Get an official transcript of the 4 videos, including a DOI for official references and citations, by downloading the technical paper # 25.

Geopolymers vs. AAM: Understanding the Crucial Differences

33 min, 89 MB. Click on the CC icon to ACTIVATE SUBTITLES. Watch it fullscreen.

Buy the “Geopolymer Bundle” Video + Tutorial (click here).

Summary: Geopolymers are not Alkali Activated Materials (AAM).
AAMs are characterized by their hydration process and are not polymers. Therefore, they cannot be called geopolymers. Geopolymers, on the other hand, are polymers and not hydrates. Consequently, the terms NASH or KASH are irrelevant because geopolymers are polymers, not hydrates. It is a significant scientific error to claim that polymers and hydrates are similar. Attempting to create a polymer using the mix design of a hydrate will result in failure (cracking, shrinkage and efflorescence). Conversely, following the kinetics of a polymer when making a geopolymer will result in success.
There is no controversy. You have been misled by people who lack a proper understanding of polymers. You have been faithfully following and copying their wrong mixes and getting bad results.
Everything is proven with solid scientific evidence against fake science.

Video description: This video is an excerpt from a 3-hour workshop on geopolymer processing. Buy the Geopolymer Bundle (click here).
It addresses common misconceptions about geopolymer cements and explains why many attempts to produce geopolymer cements have failed to achieve the superior properties that are often cited in the scientific literature.
The presenters argue that geopolymers are not alkali activated materials (AAM) and highlight the fundamental differences between the two. They emphasize the importance of understanding polymer chemistry for successful formulation.
The video critiques common errors in the scientific literature, particularly those propagated between 2003 and 2019, that have led to confusion in the field. It explains why treating geopolymers as hydrates (NASH or KASH) is incorrect and provides evidence from infrared spectroscopy and the role of water to support this claim.
The presenters emphasize the importance of proper terminology and understanding, pointing out that geopolymers are true mineral polymers, not hydrates or precipitates.
This informative video aims to clear up misconceptions and provide a solid foundation for those interested in working with geopolymer cement, ultimately promoting a better understanding and more successful implementation of this innovative material in construction and engineering.

Chapters:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:33 AAM are not GP
• 03:53 Geopolymer definition
• 05:06 Example of wrong mixing
• 11:58 Portland cement chemistry
• 12:57 Geopolymer chemistry
• 14:05 Wrong NASH and KASH terminology
• 15:42 Wrong RILEM committee definition
• 17:09 Water to binder ratio proves GP not a hydrate
• 18:35 IR proves GP not a hydrate
• 24:49 AAM are not Polymers
• 25:18 What is activation?
• 27:47 There is no GP activator
• 29:00 Concrete Society classifications
• 30:15 Designing Buildings definitions
• 32:43 GP is a polymer not a hydrate

Other videos

In his four recent keynotes at the Geopolymer Camp 2014, Geopolymer Camp 2015, Geopolymer Camp 2016 and Geopolymer Camp 2017, Prof. J. Davidovits explained why Alkali-Activated-Materials are not Geopolymers, or why alkali-activation is not geopolymerization. We have selected all the sequences that had been dedicated to this issue in the GPCamp-2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 keynotes. These new videos are titled: Why Alkali-Activated Materials are NOT Geopolymers. You will finally understand why they are two different systems.

Part 4 (new 2017): NASH / KASH is an invalid terminology

In 2016, a paper published by a group of scientists determined that there is no presence of NASH or KASH in geopolymer cement (see part 3 below). In this short excerpt, Prof. Joseph Davidovits explains this result by the true polymer nature of geopolymer chemistry. You will learn what true NASH and KASH are, and in which context they are actually used. AAM and geopolymer cement (wrongly shorten by some as “geopolymers”) are two very different and separate chemistry (a hydrate/precipitate that is a monomer or a dimer versus a true polymer). None is a subset of the other or its derivative which leads to confused interpretations.

10 min, 26 MB. Click on the icon on the right to watch it fullscreen.

Part 3: AAM are not polymers, so they cannot be called “geopolymers”

Prof. Joseph Davidovits emphasizes the fact that Alkali Activated Materials (AAM) are not polymers, so they cannot be called “geopolymers”. He presents what scientists are now writing about this issue. They now agree with proven facts that it is a big scientific mistake to use AAM and geopolymer as synonyms, and people shall stop doing so. Geopolymer cement is not a CSH derivative; therefore, scientists are now stating that applying the CSH terminology from Portland cement is not only inappropriate, but also calling them NASH and KASH is totally wrong. Those who purposefully use and propagate these misleading languages delude the understanding of the true chemical reactions that really occur (never a hydrate or a gel, but a polymer), resulting in confused interpretations.

27 min, 62 MB. Click on the icon on the right to watch it fullscreen.

Part 1 (2014): AAM are not geopolymers, two different chemistries

Prof. J. Davidovits explains the main differences between AAC (Alkali-Activated Cement or Concrete), AAS (Alkali-Activated Slag), AAF (Alkali-Activated Fly Ash) and Slag-based Geopolymer cement, in terms of chemistry, molecular structure, long-term durability. In a second part, on hand of the industrialization of Slag/fly ash-based geopolymer cement/concrete implemented by the company Wagners, Australia, he focuses on the results provided by the carbonation testing data obtained for ordinary Portland cement, AAS and EFC (Slag/fly ash-based geopolymer). The tests were carried out at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology RMIT in Australia. Geopolymer behaves like regular Portland cement, whereas AAS gets very bad carbonation results.

20 min, 46 MB. Click on the icon on the right to watch it fullscreen.

Part 2 (2015): Clarifying statement about all the false ideas and assertions

Prof. J. Davidovits makes a clarifying statement about all the false ideas and assertions written by several alkali activated materials scientists (incorrectly using the word “geopolymer” for marketing purpose in place of AAM) and blindly imitated by others. He explains why it is a true polymer with a well-known and understood chemistry (as opposed to those who claim it is a “gel” of unknown character), mentions the historicity and discovery of geopolymer chemistry, the real contributions of Glukhovsky and what he really wrote about geopolymers. He develops the range of actual industrial applications that goes far beyond cement made out of wastes…

29 min, 67 MB. Click on the icon on the right to watch it fullscreen.

a) Nature of the hardened material:

• X-ray amorphous at ambient and medium temperatures
• X-ray crystalline at temperatures > 500°C

b) Synthesis Routes:

• alkaline medium (Na, K, Ca) hydroxides and alkali-silicates yielding poly(silicates) – poly(siloxo) type or poly(silico-aluminates) – poly(sialate) type
• acidic medium (Phosphoric acid) yielding poly(phospho-siloxo) and poly(alumino-phospho) types

As an example, one of the geopolymeric precursors, MK-750 (metakaolin) with its alumoxyl group –Si-O-Al=O, reacts in both systems, alkaline and acidic. Same for siloxo-based and organo-siloxo-based geopolymeric species that also react in both alkaline and acidic medium.

Geopolymer Terminology

In the late 1970’s, Joseph Davidovits, the inventor and developer of geopolymerization, coined the term “geopolymer” to classify the newly discovered geosynthesis that produces inorganic polymeric materials now used for a number of industrial applications. He also set a logical scientific terminology based on different chemical units, essentially for silicate and aluminosilicate materials, classified according to the Si:Al atomic ratio:

Si:Al = 0, siloxo
Si:Al = 1, sialate (acronym for silicon-oxo-aluminate of Na, K, Ca, Li)
Si:Al = 2, sialate-siloxo
Si:Al = 3, sialate-disiloxo
Si:Al > 3, sialate link.

This terminology was presented to the scientific community at a IUPAC conference in 1976. See for details in the Library the paper Milestone Paper IUPAC-76

In the introduction of his book on alkali-geopolymer cement, the alkali-cement scientist John Provis, challenged the use of the word ‘sialate’ arguing that “…the term ‘sialate’ was already in use (since the 1950s) to describe any of the salts of organic sialic acid …” He simply forgot to mention that long before 1950 geology has been using extensively the term ‘sialic’, for example in ‘sialic metamorphic rocks‘, or ‘the oceanic crust is mostly basaltic and the continental crust is mostly sialic, meaning the rocks, such as granite, contain high amounts of aluminum and silica‘. Not to forget the fact that fly ashes were and still are commonly classified into three entities: calcic-, ferric- and sialic-groups; the sialic component results from the %weight of (SiO₂ + Al₂O₃ + TiO₂). There exists another example, namely the well known term ‘SIALON’, a specialist class of high temperature refractory materials, acronym of silicon-aluminum-oxo-nitride, i.e. a scientific logical terminology. The geopolymeric ‘sialate‘ term proceeds from the same scientific logic (it is the acronym of silicon-oxo-aluminate), in contrast with the organic molecule ‘sialic acid’ that was derived from an ancient Greek word meaning ‘saliva’, with no scientific association. In fact, for our geopolymer molecules we write poly(sialate) / polysialate or poly(sialate-siloxo), a terminology never used in biochemistry. We shall therefore keep our terminology, use it and promote it without any restriction.

Geopolymers comprise following molecular units (or chemical groups):

-Si-O-Si-O- siloxo, poly(siloxo)
-Si-O-Al-O- sialate, poly(sialate)
-Si-O-Al-O-Si-O- sialate-siloxo, poly(sialate-siloxo)
-Si-O-Al-O-Si-O-Si-O- sialate-disiloxo, poly(sialate-disiloxo)
-P-O-P-O- phosphate, poly(phosphate)
-P-O-Si-O-P-O- phospho-siloxo, poly(phospho-siloxo)
-P-O-Si-O-Al-O-P-O- phospho-sialate, poly(phospho-sialate)
-(R)-Si-O-Si-O-(R) organo-siloxo, poly-silicone
-Al-O-P-O- alumino-phospho, poly(alumino-phospho)
-Fe-O-Si-O-Al-O-Si-O- ferro-sialate, poly(ferro-sialate)

Geopolymers are presently developed and applied in 10 main classes of materials:

• Waterglass-based geopolymer, poly(siloxonate), soluble silicate, Si:Al=1:0
• Kaolinite / Hydrosodalite-based geopolymer, poly(sialate) Si:Al=1:1
• Metakaolin MK-750-based geopolymer, poly(sialate-siloxo) Si:Al=2:1
• Calcium-based geopolymer, (Ca, K, Na)-sialate, Si:Al=1, 2, 3
• Rock-based geopolymer, poly(sialate-multisiloxo) 1< Si:Al<5
• Silica-based geopolymer, sialate link and siloxo link in poly(siloxonate) Si:Al>5
• Fly ash-based geopolymer
• Ferro-sialate-based geopolymer
• Phosphate-based geopolymer, AlPO4-based geopolymer
• Organic-mineral geopolymer