Alkali-activated cements and geopolymers
Cementos de activación alcalina y geopolímeros
- Date
- 1957 · confidence medium
- Place
- Kyiv, Ukraine
- Credited to
- Viktor Glukhovsky (with Joseph Davidovits, who coined 'geopolymer')
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Cements made by activating slag or fly ash with alkalis rather than calcining limestone, emitting far less CO2 than Portland cement. Glukhovsky studied them in Kyiv; Davidovits named them geopolymers in 1978.
Alkali-activated slags were studied as early as 1908 (Kühl) and in 1940 (Purdon, Belgium); Glukhovsky (1957) systematised them and Davidovits (1978, France) reframed them as geopolymers. Dates and the boundary between 'alkali activation' and 'geopolymer' are debated.
What it led to
- low-emission concretes
- use of industrial waste as binders
- studies of Roman concrete and ancient cements