Experimental preparation and mechanical properties enhancement of polymer mortar in industrial solid waste base

Abstract To investigate the synthesis process and mechanical characteristics of industrial solid waste-based geopolymer mortar, this study employed a composite binder system comprising fly ash and ground granulated blast-furnace slag activated by alkaline solutions. An orthogonal experimental design was implemented to systematically evaluate three critical parameters: slag substitution ratio (0.7 by mass fraction of total binders), alkali activator dosage (8 wt.%), and sodium silicate modulus (1.4). The optimized formulation demonstrated significant mechanical performance enhancement during curing, achieving maximum compressive strengths of 44.4 MPa at 7 d and 68.9 MPa at 28 d, accompanied by flexural strengths of 6.1 MPa and 9.8 MPa at corresponding curing periods.