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Frontiers in Materials ·

Volume 13 - 2026 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmats.2026.1951523

Impact of the surrounding ambient temperature on the fresh and hardened properties of one-part alkali-activated materials incorporating recycled brick powder and aggregate

  • Yazeed A. Al-Noaimat1*corresponding author
  • Mazen J. Al-Kheetan2
  • Mehdi Chougan3
  • Ayah A. Alkhawaldeh4
  • Seyed Hamidreza Ghaffar5,6
  1. 1Department of Civil Engineering, Munib and Angela Masri Engineering Faculty, Aqaba University of Technology, Aqaba, Jordan
  2. 2Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Mutah University, Mutah, Jordan
  3. 3School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Civil Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
  4. 4Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Jerash University, Jerash, Jordan
  5. 5Department of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Dubai International Academic City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  6. 6Applied Science Research Center, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan
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Abstract

This study investigates the influence of the combined effect of mixing and curing temperatures on the flowability, slump height reduction, flexural and compressive strengths, water absorption, and microstructural performance of one-part alkali-activated materials (AAM), providing insight into the in situ efficiency and applicability of these materials. The effect of temperature was evaluated for two different mix designs: one prepared with 100% natural aggregates (NA) and the other with 50% brick aggregates (BA). Four different surrounding temperatures were selected: 35, 20, 10, and 0 °C, and the temperatures were varied together at 0, 10, 20, and 35 °C; consequently, the results describe the combined exposure condition and do not isolate the individual effects of mixing temperature and curing temperature. The workability of both mix designs was found to be dependent on the surrounding temperature, with lower flowability and a reduction in slump height as temperature increased. At the same time, increasing the surrounding temperature was found to increase the 3-day strength performance of the mixture. Nevertheless, 28-day mechanical strength performance was better for ambient-prepared mixtures, indicating that high temperature might initially boost AAM performance, but does not allow it to reach its maximum mechanical strength performance at later ages. Similarly, the water absorption capacity of the mixture was found to depend on the surrounding temperature, with the lowest value for the mixture prepared at 35 °C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed that aggregates in both mixtures (100% NA and 50% BA) delaminated from the cement paste at 0 °C. The results presented in this study provide an insight into the efficiency and performance of AAM under varying environmental conditions.

Keywords

1 Introduction

Concrete has been utilised in the construction industry for many decades, which is mainly composed of cement and natural aggregates (NA). However, cement production processes consume a large amount of energy and result in the emission of huge amounts of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), where one tonne of OPC produces approximately 0.9 tonnes of CO2 (Al-noaimat et al., 2023a; Stafford et al., 2016; Al-noaimat et al., 2025a). An alternative material called alkali-activated material (AAM), also known as geopolymer, was developed to tackle this problem (Provis et al., 2015; Provis, 2018; Luukkonen et al., 2018; Alkhawaldeh A. A. et al., 2024; Binders et al., 2023). AAM is produced by mixing solid precursors composed of any alumina- and/or aluminosilicate-rich materials, such as fly ash and metakaolin, with an alkaline activator (Al-noaimat et al., 2023b). The utilisation of these products can encourage sustainable practices in the construction sector and lead to cost savings of up to 30%, along with a substantial reduction of up to 80% in greenhouse gas emissions (Zhang et al., 2013; Alkhawaldeh A. et al., 2024). There are numerous advantages to using AAM over conventional concrete, including high compressive strength, fire resistance, rapid hardening, salt and acid resistance, as well as environmental benefits (Hu et al., 2018; Phoo-Ngernkham et al., 2015; Aupoil et al., 2019). Depending on the activator type, AAM could be classified into two-part AAM (liquid activator) and one-part AAM (solid activator). One-part AAM, also known as ‘just add water’, was developed to overcome the handling and operating problems of the hazardous liquid activator (Al-noaimat et al., 2023b).

Another rising problem in the construction industry is the massive production of construction and demolition waste (CDW) at the end of the construction life, with the increase of construction industry activities, such as rebuilding or renovation, and the extension of current structures, because of urbanisation, with the fast growth of population (Aslam et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2017; Duan et al., 2019; Alkhawaldeh et al., 2023). The worldwide production of CDWs generally stands at over 10 billion tons annually (Wu et al., 2019). Those generated CDWs end up landfilled, and as a result, the area designated for landfilling CDW accounts for around 35% of the total deposition area across the globe (Yazdani et al., 2021; Ajayi and Oyedele, 2017), which might contain concrete, steel, and brick. Therefore, this enormous amount of waste must be appropriately managed since most countries dispose those waste through landfills, which are costly, space-filling, and negatively impact the environment (Jiang et al., 2020). Alternatively, various studies investigated the capability of recycling those wastes into aggregates to replace NA, to decrease the overdependency on limited natural resources (Li et al., 2023; Nuaklong et al., 2018; El-seidy et al., 2022; El-seidy et al., 2023).

Recently, recycling brick into powder for use as a binder in AAM has attracted noticeable interest to reduce the amount of CDW landfilled and improve sustainability. Pasupathy et al. (2023) investigated the effect of replacing up to 50% fly ash with brick powder (BP) on the properties of cast and 3D printed AAM mixtures. They found that replacing 10% enhanced the compressive strength of the mixtures at 7 and 28 days, while 30% replacement achieved a strength performance similar to that of the reference mixture. Higher replacement levels decreased the compressive strength of the mixture (Pasupathy et al., 2023). Although brick contains a high amount of silica and alumina in its chemical composition, it was reported to have a low amorphous content, which lowers the reaction rate in the mixture when used at high percentages, thereby deteriorating the properties of the resultant mix (Tuyan et al., 2018; Migunthanna et al., 2021).

Several parameters were reported to affect AAM, including the mixing method, curing regime, and temperature (Al-noaimat et al., 2023b). Many studies have investigated the properties of one-part AAM mixtures, focusing on fly ash as the primary precursor. Fly ash-based one-part AAM requires heat curing to improve its early-age mechanical performance since fly ash exhibits low reaction at room temperature (Yu et al., 2016). Ambient-temperature activation can be improved by adding slag (Luukkonen et al., 2020), whose high calcium content can increase precursor dissolution and early-age strength. (Luukkonen et al., 2018). Most previous studies focused on understanding the difference between ambient curing and higher temperature curing on the properties of two-part and one-part AAM (Aredes et al., 2015; Shoaei et al., 2019; Sajan et al., 2021; Shah et al., 2020). For instance, Shah et al. (2020) investigated the impact of curing one-part AAM at 20, 35, and 60 °C on the compressive strength at 1, 7, and 28 days. The authors found that curing samples at higher temperatures significantly increased the mixture’s strength at early ages, while the 28-day strength became more comparable, and the highest strength observed for the mix cured at 30 °C. Nevertheless, that leaves many outstanding questions on the performance of one-part AAM cured at lower temperatures.

Related studies have examined individual low-temperature variables in other AAM systems, as shown in Table 1. Almakhadmeh and Soliman (2021) varied mixing-water temperature from 0 °C to 30 °C for one-part alkali-activated slag paste; Alzaza et al. (2021) examined subzero curing of one-part alkali-activated slag; and Wei et al. (2021), and Xiao et al. (2025) investigated low-temperature or subzero curing of slag-containing alkali-activated systems.

TABLE 1. Previous studies investigated temperature effect on AAM properties.

StudyExperimental workObjectiveMain resultsConclusionsScope limitations
Almakhadmeh and Soliman (2021)One-part alkali-activated slag paste/mortar prepared using mixing water at 0, 10, 20, and 30 °C temperatures. Examined Properties: Mini-slump, slump loss, setting time, heat evolution, compressive strength, and shrinkageDetermine how initial mixing-water temperature affects the fresh and hardened properties of one-part AASReduced water temperature extended the length of slump and setting time without negatively impacting strength. The temperature of water is significantly affected by the dissolving of activator and slag, hence impacting the progression of the reactionMixing-water temperature can be used to control the workability and setting of one-part AAS, particularly during cold-weather productionOnly mixing-water temperature was varied; curing-temperature effects were not independently examined. The system contained slag only
Alzaza et al. (2021)One-part AAS and OPC mortars were 1cured at 23, −5, −10, and −20 °C temperatures for up to 56 daysExamined Properties: Compressive strength, UPV, porosity, TGA/DTG, and SEM-EDSAssess the feasibility of using one-part AAS for construction under subzero conditions without supplementary heatingDecreasing curing temperature reduced UPV and compressive strength in both binders. Nevertheless, one-part AAS achieved higher strength and UPV than OPC at every temperature. Room temperature restored AAS propertiesProperly designed one-part AAS can continue developing useful properties under subzero curing and may extend the construction season in cold regionsMixing temperature was not varied independently. The study used slag mortar
Wei et al. (2021)Alkali-activated fly ash/GGBFS mortar was cured under different low-temperature conditionsExamined Properties: Compressive strength, electrical resistivity, hydration development, and microstructural characteristicsExplain the influence of low-temperature curing on strength development, reaction progress, and microstructure of fly ash–slag AAM mortarLow-temperature curing reduced compressive strength and retarded reaction development. Resistivity and microstructural observations indicated slower formation of reaction products and a less-developed early-age matrixLow curing temperature delays alkali activation and early strength development, although reaction and strength can continue developing with timeThe study examined curing temperature rather than combined mixing-and-curing temperature. It used a fly ash–slag mortar
Yang et al. (2024)Alkali-activated ultra-fine slag was investigated under low-temperature environments, including 0 °C. Examined Properties: Setting, strength evolution, reaction products, pore development, and microstructureClarify how low temperature affects the hardening and microstructural development of AAS containing ultra-fine slagLow temperature markedly prolonged setting and delayed early strength development; at 0 °C, final setting could extend from less than 1 hour to several hours. Strength continued to develop as reaction products gradually accumulated and the matrix became denserUltra-fine slag can support continued AAS reaction at low temperature, but hardening and strength development remain substantially slower than under normal curingRestricted to an ultra-fine slag binder. It did not consider mixing-water temperature, one-part activation, recycled brick constituents, freeze–thaw cycling, or field exposure
Xiao et al. (2025)AAS pastes were both mixed and cured at −10 °C. Different liquid-to-solid ratios and activator concentrations were investigatedExamined Properties: Fluidity, setting, compressive strength, nitrogen adsorption, and SEMOptimize the principal mixture parameters of AAS for construction at subzero temperatureIncreasing the liquid-to-solid ratio improved fluidity but reduced compressive strength. 14 M NaOH produced the highest strength, while a NaOH/sodium-silicate ratio of 0.50 gave the greatest strength improvement. Mixture parameters substantially affected pore structure and matrix compactnessActivator concentration and liquid content must be carefully optimized to obtain workable and sufficiently strong AAS at −10 °CExamined only AAS paste at −10 °C. It used a conventional liquid activator rather than a one-part system

Bold values indicates Targeted mixing temperature in the study and Targeted curing temperature in the present study.

Taken together, these studies confirm that low-temperature mixing and low-temperature curing have each been studied independently, but none expose the same one-part AAM to a matched low temperature across both mixing and curing simultaneously, and all are restricted to slag- or fly-ash-based precursors. Brick powder and brick aggregate, despite representing one of the largest fractions of construction and demolition waste (CDW), remain unexamined under any of these temperature regimes. This leaves an open question with direct practical relevance: whether recycling brick waste into a functional binder and aggregate can also help the resulting one-part AAM cope with the cold-weather conditions that have so far limited its use.

The call to reduce the environmental impacts and raw material consumption of concrete is growing, and construction and demolition waste is accumulating faster than most countries can responsibly manage it. AAM offers a route to address both problems at once, but questions remain about its practicality across different climates, particularly where mixing and placement must happen in cold weather. Most studies investigated ambient and high-temperature cured AAM properties (Shah et al., 2020; Adesanya et al., 2018; Nematollahi et al., 2015). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has examined one-part AAM under combined low-temperature mixing and curing (i.e., 0 °C and 10 °C). Moreover, up to date, no study has investigated the impact of these combined temperature effect on mix built around a high proportion of recycled brick. Hence, this study aims to explore the impact of combined low temperatures mixing and curing (i.e., 0 °C and 10 °C) compared to ambient and high temperatures (i.e., 35 °C) on the fresh and hardened properties of one-part AAM containing high amount of brick powder (BP). Therefore, the experimental program considered four controlled temperature setpoints: 0, 10, 20, and 35 °C. The effect of these temperatures on flowability, slump-height reduction, mechanical strength at 3 and 28 days, and water absorption behaviour were investigated. Moreover, qualitative microstructural characteristics were also investigated.

Two formulations were investigated: a reference mixture containing 100% natural aggregate (NA) and a mixture in which 50% of the natural aggregate was replaced with recycled brick aggregate (BA). The incorporation of highly water-absorptive of brick powder (BP) and brick aggregates (BA) were selected as it may provide a potential approach to mitigate the temperature dependency of one-part AAM under low-temperature conditions, not merely as a lower-carbon substitute, but as a functional feedstock that actively improves the cold-weather performance of one-part AAM, broadening where this material can realistically be deployed. Hence, this study also answers a question of doubt, which is: can the water-retention and subsequent release characteristics of recycled BA help sustain the geopolymerisation process and improve the performance of one-part AAM under low-temperature environments?

2 Methodology

An illustration of the conducted experimental work is constructed and shown in Figure 1. The following subsections represent details of the used materials, sample preparation, and experimental test.

Mix proportion and testing programme.
Figure 1. Mix proportion and testing programme.

2.1 Materials

The binder was composed of ground-granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) supplied from Hanson, United Kingdom, and brick powder (BP) obtained from processing end-of-life bricks collected from a demolition site near Brunel University London, United Kingdom. More information related to the binder materials can be found in (Al-noaimat et al., 2023c; Al-noaimat et al., 2023d). In this study, NA and brick aggregate (BA) with a particle size less than 2 mm were used as aggregates. Detailed information on the procedures conducted to obtain BP and BA has been reported in the authors’ previous study (Al-noaimat et al., 2023c). For activating the precursor, sodium metasilicate (SS) powder (Na2SiO3) from Fisher Scientific, United Kingdom, with a purity of 99% and an alkali modulus (SiO2/Na2O) of 1.6, was used.

2.2 Sample preparation

In this study, two different mixtures, one with 100% NA and the other with 50% BA and 50% NA, were studied for each combined mixing and curing temperature. Based on the previous study of Al-noaimat et al. (2023c), the optimal natural aggregate replacement level, which corresponds to the best-performing mixture with acceptable workability, was selected in this study to provide better understanding on the behaviour of AAM containing recycled aggregates under different surrounding environments, which was 50%BA. Four combined mixing and curing temperatures were used: 0, 10, 20, and 35 °C It should be noted that the selected temperatures represent the controlled ambient temperatures to which the AAM mixtures and specimens were exposed during mixing and curing, rather than measured internal temperatures of the mixtures or specimens. Since the primary focus of this study is to understand the impact of different combined temperatures on the properties of one-part AAM with and without BA, the mix proportions were kept constant. The binder was composed of 60% BP and 40% GGBS. An aggregate-to-binder ratio of 1.2, an activator-to-binder ratio of 0.12, and a water-to-binder (w/b) ratio of 0.4 were used, as shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2. Mixtures proportions.

Mix IDBinderAggregateActivatorW/b ratio
BPGGBSNABASS-
NA60%40%100%-12%0.4
BA60%40%50%50%12%0.4

For simulating the different environments, the following procedures were followed:

  • For 0 °C, the mixtures were mixed and cured inside a fridge controlled at 0 °C.
  • For 10 °C, a chamber was used to control the temperature, and the mixtures were mixed and cured inside the chamber.
  • For ambient temperature, the mixtures were mixed and cured at a controlled room temperature.
  • For 35 °C, a furnace controlled at 35 °C was used, and the mixing and curing took place in the furnace.

The ambient temperature within each preparation and curing environment was monitored and maintained at its designated value throughout the experimental programme. To ensure meaningful findings and outcomes, the temperature conditions were monitored using a digital thermometer with an accuracy of ±1 °C. Temperature measurements were monitored before and during the mixing process and throughout the curing period until the respective testing ages. The thermometer was positioned within the same controlled environment in which the mixtures were prepared and cured, and the surrounding temperature was maintained within ±1 °C of the targeted temperatures (0, 10, 20, and 35 °C). The dry constituents were stored and conditioned under the corresponding temperature condition for 24 h prior to mixing. The temperatures of 0, 10, 20, and 35 °C therefore represent the controlled ambient conditions imposed during preparation and curing. The temperature of the fresh mixtures was not measured, and no thermocouples were embedded in the specimens. Consequently, the actual internal temperature and thermal history of the reacting material could not be determined.

Prior to mixing, the dry mixtures were left for 24 h under the conditions described above to ensure accurate simulation. For mixture preparation, the dry ingredients, including the precursor materials, sand, and sodium silicate, were dry-mixed for 3 min, followed by the addition of water and wet-mixing for an additional 10 min. After mixing, the specimens were poured into polystyrene moulds with dimensions of 40 × 40 × 160 mm3 for 24 h before being demoulded and stored in the exact locations until testing. The relative humidity (RH) for all mixtures during mixing was 40% to ensure consistency. However, during curing the RH has not been monitored or controlled, presenting a limitation of this study.

2.3 Experimental tests

2.3.1 Fresh properties

2.3.1.1 Flowability

The workability differences between mixtures at different temperatures were measured at the end of each mixing process, using the flow table test in accordance with BS EN 1015-3 (1999). The spread diameter was recorded at 0, 5, 10, and 15 min. For each temperature and mix design, the results were reported as the average of three measurements.

2.3.1.2 Slump height reduction

A mini-slump test was also used to assess the workability of the mixtures under different combined mixing and curing temperatures, following BS EN 12350-2 (2009). The slump value was recorded directly after the end of the mixing process, presented by the height reduction after 1 min of pouring the fresh mixture into the cone. Similar to the flowability test, three measurements were recorded for each condition, and the results are presented as the average of the three measurements.

2.3.2 Mechanical properties

Flexural strength (3-point bending) and compressive strength were measured using an Instron 5960 Universal Testing System at a loading rate of 1 mm/min, following BS EN 196-1 (2016). Three prismatic samples (160 × 40 × 40 mm3) and six cube samples (40 × 40 × 40 mm3) were used to test the flexural and compressive strengths, respectively, for each mixture.

2.3.3 Microstructural analysis

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study the microstructure of the different mixtures using a Supra 35VP (Carl Zeiss, Germany). The analysis was conducted on small mortar pieces (approx. 1 cm3) collected after flexural testing. The pieces were gold-coated with an Edwards S150B sputter coater before SEM analysis to avoid surface charging. For meaningful observations, approximately 10 secondary electron images were captured from each sample at an accelerating voltage of 7 kV.

2.3.4 Water absorption

The water absorption of the different mixtures was evaluated according to BS, 1881-122 (2011) as a durability-related indicator to assess their water uptake and provide an indication of pore structure and potential transport behaviour (Wang et al., 2019; Li et al., 2020; Pandey and Kumar, 2019). Water absorption of the different samples was measured on prismatic samples (40 × 40 × 160 mm3) cured for 3 days. The weight change of three prismatic specimens was recorded for each temperature and mix design, and the average values were reported in the Results section. The samples were oven-dried at 105 °C ± 5 °C until reaching a constant mass. Then the specimens were immersed in a water bath at 23 °C ± 2 °C, and their mass was recorded after 15, 30, 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h of immersion. The water absorption percentage is calculated using (Equation 1) as follows:

W a t e r a b s o r p t i o n % = M t − M 0 M 0 × 100 (1)

Where Mt (g) is the sample mass at time t after immersing in water, and M0 (g) is the mass of the oven-dried sample.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Workability

To investigate the effect of mixing and curing conditions on the workability of AAM mortars, the mixtures with 50% BA and 100% NA were subjected to four different atmospheric temperatures (0 °C, 10 °C, 20 °C, 35 °C).

3.1.1 Impact of temperature on AAM with natural aggregate

The flowability results for one-part AAM with 100% NA at different temperatures are presented in Figure 2. It can be observed that the flowability showed a decreasing trend with increasing the surrounding temperature, where increasing the temperature from 0 °C to 35 °C showed a dramatic decrement, reporting a decrement from 102% at 0 °C to around 25% at 35 °C. This indicates that temperature has a noticeable impact on the workability of the mixtures. Moreover, slump height reduction showed similar performance, having a substantial reduction in the slump height with increasing temperature, as shown in Table 3 .

Flowability of one-part AAM with 100% NA at different temperatures.
Figure 2. Flowability of one-part AAM with 100% NA at different temperatures.

TABLE 3. Slump height reduction values of AAM prepared with 100% NA at different temperatures.

Mix IDMN35MN20MN10MN0
Slump height reduction [mm]6101616

3.1.2 Impact of temperature on AAM with recycled BA

Similar to the mixtures prepared with natural aggregates, the one-part AAM containing 50% brick aggregates showed a drastic reduction in flow percentage when increasing the temperature from 0 °C to 35 °C, as shown in Figure 3 . However, the highest flowability was reported for the mixture prepared at 10 °C, followed by that prepared at 0 °C, and the lowest flowability was observed for the mixture prepared at 35 °C. Similar behaviour was observed for slump height reduction, as shown in Table 4.

Flowability of one-part AAM containing 50% BA at different temperatures.
Figure 3. Flowability of one-part AAM containing 50% BA at different temperatures.

TABLE 4. Slump height reduction values of AAM prepared with 50% BA at different temperatures.

Mix IDMB35MB20MB10MB0
Slump height reduction [mm]13 ± 123 ± 130 ± 220 ± 1

3.1.3 Mechanisms impacting the workability of AAM

It can be seen that, despite the type of aggregates used in the mixtures, the flowability decreased with increasing mixing and surrounding temperature. It is reported that there are different types of available water in fresh mixtures, which are (i) adsorbed water on the particle surface, (ii) free water, (iii) water filling the gaps between the particles, and (iv) water absorbed by BA (Al-noaimat et al., 2023d; Hou et al., 2021). AAMs are known for their rapid and highly reactive behaviour, and when the water content in a mixture is fixed, the fluidity of the cementitious system is primarily governed by the amount of available free water. Because a fixed mix design is used across mixtures, their water absorption is expected to remain similar, indicating that the observed reduction in fluidity and slump height at higher surrounding temperatures is mainly due to the accelerated reaction kinetics as temperature increases. This is primarily due to the nature of the reaction mechanisms in alkali-activated materials, which are influenced by surrounding temperature (Al-noaimat et al., 2023b; Elzeadani et al., 2022). The geopolymerisation reaction primarily involves the dissolution of the aluminosilicate precursor. Activators provide alkali cations that break the Si-O-Si and Al-O-Al bonds in the precursor to form the strength-giving binding phases (Al-noaimat et al., 2023b; Elzeadani et al., 2022). According to Suppiah et al. (2022), temperature plays a major role as a reaction accelerator, with the AAM microstructure producing more reacted particles. Tian et al. (2020) reported that increasing combined mixing and curing temperature increased the amount of strength-giving products by around 25%. Hence, increasing the mixture temperature would speed up the reaction, allowing the particles to dissolve quickly and react with each other, reducing the spread diameter of the fresh mixture. Conversely, at low mixing temperatures (10 °C and 0 °C), the reactivity of the alkali-activated materials decreases, slowing the overall geopolymerisation process and limiting the release of absorbed water from the brick aggregates. This reduced reactivity allows the aggregates to retain the water they have absorbed and enables the mixture to maintain more free water, as the reaction progresses more slowly and remains delayed.

Nevertheless, when incorporating BA, flowability and slump height reduction showed different trends at low temperatures, with 10 °C exhibiting higher flowability and slump height reduction than 0 °C. It was observed that the mixture at 0 °C requires a longer mixing time to initiate precursor dissolution than at higher temperatures. Hence, AAM mixtures, despite their aggregate composition, when mixed and cured at 0 °C, would exhibit lower adhesion behaviour, thus lower flowability and a reduced slump height.

3.2 Mechanical strength

The impact of surrounding temperature conditions on the mechanical strength performance of AAM prepared with NA and BA is investigated, and the results are presented in this section.

3.2.1 Flexural strength

The impact of different combined mixing and curing temperatures on flexural strength performances of AAM mortars prepared with NA and 50% BA at 3 and 28 days is presented in Figures 4, 5 , respectively. It can be seen that mixtures with BA incorporation achieved higher flexural strength than those with 100% NA at all temperatures for both 3 and 28 days. Furthermore, the 50% BA mixture prepared at 35 °C reached the highest value of 5.8 MPa at 3 days (Figure 5), whereas the 100% NA mixture at 35 °C reached 1.75 MPa at 3 days (Figure 4). The flexural strength values of AAM mixtures with 50% BA were found to improve with increasing the temperature at 3 days (Figure 5). Interestingly, unlike the 3-day test age, both mixtures achieved the highest 28-day strength when prepared at ambient temperature (i.e., 20 °C), with 8.8 MPa for the 100% NA mixture and 9.5 MPa for the 50% BA mixture, as shown in Figures 4, 5.

Influence of different temperatures on the flexural strength of AAM prepared with 100% NA at 3 and 28 days.
Figure 4. Influence of different temperatures on the flexural strength of AAM prepared with 100% NA at 3 and 28 days.
Impact of temperature on the flexural strength of AAM prepared with 50% BA at 3 and 28 days.
Figure 5. Impact of temperature on the flexural strength of AAM prepared with 50% BA at 3 and 28 days.

It can be seen from the results reported above that he effect of replacing natural aggregate with brick aggregate on flexural strength resulted in achieving similar or higher flexural strength for the mixture containing BA than NA mixtures at every investigated temperature and at both testing ages, with the largest relative improvement observed at 35 °C and 10 °C at 28 days.

3.2.2 Compressive strength

Similar to flexural strength, mixtures containing BA achieved better compressive strength performance than mixtures with natural aggregates at all temperatures for both 3 and 28 days (Figures 6, 7). The highest compressive strength for the AAM mixtures with 100% NA at 3 days (Figure 6) was 20.7 MPa, achieved by the mixture prepared at room temperature (i.e., 20 °C), whereas the highest strength for mixtures with 50% BA at the same age (Figure 7) was 40.4 MPa, achieved by the one prepared at 35 °C. Nevertheless, mixtures prepared at 20 °C achieved the highest performance at 28 days for both AAM mixtures, with the 100% NA mixture achieving 52.1 MPa and the 50% BA mixture achieving 55.2 MPa.

Influence of different temperatures on the compressive strength of AAM prepared with NA at 3 days and 28 days.
Figure 6. Influence of different temperatures on the compressive strength of AAM prepared with NA at 3 days and 28 days.
Impact of temperature on the compressive strength of AAM prepared with 50%BA at 3 days and 28 days.
Figure 7. Impact of temperature on the compressive strength of AAM prepared with 50%BA at 3 days and 28 days.

Compressive and flexural strengths at 3 days were shown to be positively correlated with the combined mixing and curing temperature, having the highest strength performance at 35 °C. However, the highest 28-day strengths were recorded at 20 °C rather than 35 °C, indicating that the effect of temperature depended on the testing age. The lower strength recorded at 35 °C may be associated with differences in continued reaction, moisture availability, drying, shrinkage, or microcracking. However, relative humidity, internal temperature, and specimen mass loss were not measured. Therefore, water loss cannot be identified as the governing mechanism, and these processes are presented only as possible explanations of the observed strength trend.

3.2.3 Mechanisms impacting strength performance at different temperatures

At an early age (3 days), it was found that both flexural and compressive strength were influenced by temperature. Mixtures prepared with natural aggregates showed better strength performances at higher temperatures and reduced with decreasing the surrounding temperature from 35 °C to 0 °C. Similar behaviour was observed in BA samples, where strength results constantly reduced as the temperature decreased. The main reason behind this behaviour could be due to the acceleration of the reaction with increasing temperature (Elzeadani et al., 2022; Suppiah et al., 2022). Geopolymerisation is an exothermic reaction that produces heat; combined storing, mixing and curing at higher temperatures can accelerate the reaction and promote greater densification and bond formation within the material. This is because higher temperatures can promote a faster dissolution of the aluminosilicate precursor, allowing for more rapid reaction product formation (Elzeadani et al., 2022; Suppiah et al., 2022). Thus, allowing for the development of higher compressive strength at an early age. According to Sajan et al. (2021), the release of ions from the alkaline activator and the formation of the bond with the Si and Al ions are primarily dependent on the surrounding temperature in the geopolymerisation reaction, which is wholly an exothermic reaction. This AAM characteristic can greatly aid rapid manufacturing in the pre-cast concrete industry (Sajan et al., 2021).

On the other hand, the performance of the mixtures differed at later testing ages, with the mixture prepared at 20 °C achieving the highest strength for both mixtures. This indicates that the curing period has a dominant effect on AAM prepared at low temperature. This is in good agreement with another study (Sajan et al., 2021). Sajan et al. (2021) investigated the effect of different curing temperatures, namely, 20, 40, 60, and 80 °C, on the properties of two-part fly ash-based AAM. The authors found that decreasing the surrounding temperature reduced the strength properties at early ages. However, at 14 days, the authors reported a similar compressive strength performance for the mixture cured at 20 °C and 80 °C. According to the authors, the prolonged curing at a higher temperature may break down the granular structure of the AAM, resulting in dehydration and excessive shrinkage, and finally decreasing the compressive strength (Provis et al., 2015). Although mixing and curing at higher temperatures increases early-age strength, the water present within the microstructure of the mixture could evaporate due to the high surrounding temperature, hindering its reaction at later ages. Moreover, the higher the reaction rate at higher combined mixing and curing temperatures, the greater the heat generated by the chemical reaction, leading to further water evaporation from the mixture (Provis et al., 2015; Provis, 2018; Sajan et al., 2021). This limits the ongoing reaction due to the absence of water after some time. In the case of 20 °C, the slower rate of reaction would allow the mixture to retain water for a longer time, allowing the reaction to proceed in comparison to the mixture exposed to higher surrounding temperatures.

Moreover, it can be observed that incorporating 50% BA improved strength performance at all temperatures, achieving higher strength values than those of mixtures containing NA. This could be due to the high-water absorption capacity of BA that allowed for absorbing the free water in the microstructure and developing a more compacted and densified mixture. Al-Noaimat et al. (Al-noaimat et al., 2025b) demonstrated the potential of recycled brick aggregates to act as an internal curing medium by storing water within their porous structure and subsequently releasing it to the surrounding cementitious matrix, thereby supporting continued reaction and improving the development of the matrix (Al-noaimat et al., 2025b). This internal water-retention and release mechanism may be particularly beneficial under both high and low temperature conditions, where the slower reaction rate allows the absorbed water to remain available for a longer period and potentially sustain the reaction over an extended curing period. At high temperatures, free water in the mixture would evaporate from the matrix, limiting the reaction to carry on. However, the presence of BA could allow the reaction to proceed by releasing the water it initially stored, providing additional for the reaction to proceed.

Moreover, the physical and textural properties of the used aggregates play a role in influencing the mechanical strength performance of the cementitious mixture (Xin et al., 2015). Hence, the better strength performance in the presence of BA was due to the irregular and rough surface of BA, which allowed for developing better interlocking mechanisms with the matrix by providing better adhesion between the aggregates and the matrix, allowing for better and more effective stress distribution along the microstructure of the mixture, which improved the overall mechanical strength performance. The obtained results in this study are in good agreement with the results found in the author’s previous study (Al-noaimat et al., 2023c).

It can be stated from the obtained results that AAMs are not suitable for any early-stage construction in a low-temperature environment (i.e., 0 °C). This could be due to the inefficiency of the reaction and the strength development of the mixture. In order to use this material in such an environment, additives or accelerators must be considered.

3.3 Microstructural analysis

The microstructures of both mix designs with 100% NA and 50% BA prepared at two different temperatures, namely, 0 °C and 20 °C, were investigated using SEM on samples obtained after flexural strength testing. SEM analysis was limited to the 0 °C and 20 °C conditions to provide a direct qualitative comparison between the lowest-temperature condition investigated and the ambient condition to examine the contrasting microstructural characteristics. Figure 8 presents the SEM images of the mixture prepared with natural aggregates. It can be observed that NA samples cured at 0 °C exhibit a weaker microstructure than those cured at 20 °C, which showed a direct debond between the matrix and the aggregates after flexural testing (Figures 8a,b). On the other hand, samples prepared at 20 °C did not show a visible delamination effect, unlike at lower temperatures, where a lack of cohesiveness between natural aggregates and finer particles is observed. Moreover, mixtures containing 50% BA showed similar behaviour, as seen in Figure 9, where the mixture prepared at 0 °C showed a debonding between the matrix and the aggregates, while the mixture prepared at 20 °C had better interlocking and adhesion between the aggregates and the paste, as can be seen in Figures 9a,b. For both mix designs, the specimens prepared at 0 °C exhibited weaker apparent matrix–aggregate connectivity and greater interfacial debonding compared with those prepared at 20 °C. These observations are consistent with the lower strength, which may indicate less developed reaction products and weaker matrix–aggregate interaction under low-temperature conditions. This could explain the lower strength at low temperatures, indicating that the paste does not develop sufficient connectivity and adhesion with the aggregates, thereby reducing its overall stress distribution efficiency and, thus, its strength values. However, further reaction analysis required to provide deeper understanding of the reasoning behind the observed behaviour. It should be noted that the used for SEM analysis were obtained after flexural testing, which could also be a possible reason for the observed aggregate-matrix debonding. However, SEM samples for both conditions have been taken after flexural testing, which would result in a similar impact on the aggregate-matrix bonding, which indicates the weaker interface between the aggregates and the matrix at lower temperatures.

SEM images of one-part AAM containing 100% NA and cured at: **(a)** 0 °C and **(b)** 20 °C.
Figure 8. SEM images of one-part AAM containing 100% NA and cured at: (a) 0 °C and (b) 20 °C.
SEM images of one-part AAM containing 50% BA and cured at: **(a)** 0 °C and **(b)** 20 °C.
Figure 9. SEM images of one-part AAM containing 50% BA and cured at: (a) 0 °C and (b) 20 °C.

3.4 Water absorption percentage

The effect of different temperature conditions on the water absorption uptake properties of cementitious mixtures was investigated by conducting the water absorption test. Figures 10, 11 present the water absorption values of AAM prepared with 100% NA and 50% BA, respectively, at different temperatures. The test results showed considerable differences in water absorption rate between samples cured at different temperatures, regardless of the AAM mixture composition. It can be seen that the water absorption percentage decreased with increasing the surrounding environment temperature for the mixture prepared with 100% NA, where the mixture cured at 35 °C achieved around 5.5%, which is less than half that of the mixture cured at 0 °C, which achieved around 14%. This is in good agreement with the 3-day strength results, which showed that increasing the temperature led to higher strength values. Similar behaviour was observed for the samples prepared with 50% BA: a higher temperature (35 °C) resulted in a lower water absorption of around 6%, compared to 13% for the mixture at 0 °C, as shown in Figure 11. According to the authors’ previous research, BA exhibits a significantly higher water-absorption capacity than NA (Al-noaimat et al., 2023d). The similar water absorption performance of the different mixtures, despite BA’s higher water absorption capacity compared to NA, may result from the development of a densified and more compacted microstructure that restricted water ingress from the sample surface.

Effect of temperature on the water absorption of AAM prepared with 100% NA.
Figure 10. Effect of temperature on the water absorption of AAM prepared with 100% NA.
Effect of temperature on the water absorption of AAM prepared with 50% BA.
Figure 11. Effect of temperature on the water absorption of AAM prepared with 50% BA.

The increase in water absorption percentage with decreasing surrounding may be due to the development of a porous, weaker microstructure that allows water intake. As discussed in the strength section, geopolymerisation is an exothermic reaction, and the release of ions from the alkaline activator and their bonding with Si and Al ions are mostly dependent on the surrounding temperature. Hence, increasing the temperature would provide an additional benefit for the dissolution of the aluminosilicate precursor and for the geopolymerisation reaction that forms the bonds. That, in turn, may result in a more compact, densified microstructure with lower porosity, thereby decreasing the water absorption of the mixtures at high temperature. Therefore, at low temperatures, the maximum intensity of the exothermic reaction during dissolution of the aluminosilicate precursor and the alkaline activator, and the reaction between the released ions, decreases. That could have resulted in improper microstructural development, increased pores and voids, and, thus, higher water absorption percentages for the investigated mixtures.

From the water absorption results for the NA and BA mixtures shown separately in Figures 10, 11, it can be seen that the two mixtures followed a similar temperature-dependent trend, with only a slight difference in water absorption between NA and BA at each temperature, confirming that the incorporation of brick aggregate did not substantially alter the overall water absorption behaviour relative to the dominant effect of surrounding temperature.

4 Conclusion

This paper investigates the effects of combined mixing and curing temperatures on the fresh properties, strength performance, and water absorption capacity of one-part alkali-activated materials (AAM). The impact of the temperature on the properties of two mix designs, one with full natural aggregates and one with 50% brick aggregates, was considered. Four controlled ambient temperatures, namely, 35 °C, 20 °C, 10 °C, and 0 °C, were investigated to evaluate the behaviour of the AAM mixtures across a range of temperature exposure conditions. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions can be drawn:

  • Workability of one-part AAM was dependent on the combined effect of mixing and curing temperature, decreasing with increasing temperature. Incorporating 50% brick aggregates to replace natural aggregates had a negligible effect on the workability of the mixture compared to the impact of temperature.
  • Flexural and compressive strength at an early age (3 days) were dependent on the temperature. For instance, the highest strength performances for the 50% BA mixture was reported when prepared at 35 °C, which achieved 5.8 MPa in flexural and 40.4 MPa in compression. At later ages (28 days), the best performance for both the 100% NA and 50% BA mixtures was observed at ambient temperature, where the 100% NA mixture recorded 8.8 MPa in flexural and 52.1 MPa in compression, and the 50% BA mixture achieved 9.5 MPa in flexural and 55.2 MPa in compression.
  • The strength performance was found to improve when incorporating brick aggregates, exhibiting better performances at 3 and 28 days compared to natural aggregates, which could be due to the different effective water content in the mixtures because of the high water absorption nature of brick aggregates. Moreover, in the presence of BA, internal curing mechanism of BA could have been responsible for the strength development compared to NA.
  • Water absorption capacity of the mixtures was also dependent on the curing temperature, with the water absorption percentage decreasing from 14% for the 100% NA mixture prepared at 0 °C to around 5.5% when mixed and cured at 35 °C.
  • Incorporating brick aggregates showed only a limited influence on the water absorption capacity of the mixtures, having a slight influence compared to the effect of temperature on the mixture’s absorption percentage.
  • SEM observations, conducted on specimens prepared at 0 °C and 20 °C only, showed weaker apparent matrix–aggregate connectivity and greater interfacial debonding at 0 °C for both mix designs, consistent with the lower strength recorded at this temperature.

A limitation of this study is that the internal temperature of the mixtures was not monitored; therefore, the actual temperature reached by the specimens and the potential occurrence of water freezing at 0 °C could not be directly determined. Therefore, additional studies could focus on understanding the impact of surrounding temperature on the internal mixture temperature in order to provide more insights on AAM behaviour across globe to allow broadening its application adaptation. Moreover, the present study investigated combined mixing and curing temperatures, where the mixing and curing temperatures were maintained at the same level for each condition (0/0, 10/10, 20/20, and 35/35 °C). Therefore, the individual effects of mixing temperature and curing temperature could not be independently quantified. Future studies should investigate mixing and curing temperatures independently using a systematic factorial experimental design. Moreover, the current investigated the water absorption property at early age. Therefore, future studies should investigate water absorption at later ages and additional durability properties under relevant exposure conditions. Additional research is required to develop better understanding on the impact of different ambient temperatures on the reaction kinetics, including XRD, FTIR, TGA/DTG, isothermal calorimetry and MIP.

Correction note

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the scientific content of the article.

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Footnotes

Edited by: Antonio Caggiano, University of Genoa, Italy

Reviewed by: Mohammed Alzuhairi, University of Technology, Iraq

Biswajit Pal, National Institute of Technology, Silchar, India

Statements

Conflict of interest

The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Funding

The author(s) declared that financial support was not received for this work and/or its publication.

Data availability

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Author contributions

YA-N: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft. MA-K: Formal Analysis, Visualization, Writing – review and editing. MC: Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review and editing. AA: Visualization, Writing – review and editing. SG: Conceptualization, Project administration, Resources, Writing – review and editing.

Acknowledgements

The analysis, interpretation and discussion of the results of the presented study were conducted with the help of Al-Mustaqbal Al-Mutamayyiz (Distinguished Future) Office for Engineering, Amman, Jordan, by the author Yazeed A. Al-Noaimat.

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Citation

Al-Noaimat, Y. A., et al. (2026). Impact of the surrounding ambient temperature on the fresh and hardened properties of one-part alkali-activated materials incorporating recycled brick powder and aggregate. Frontiers in Materials, Volume 13. https://doi.org/
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Copyright © 2026 Al-Noaimat, Al-Kheetan, Chougan, Alkhawaldeh and Ghaffar.

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

*Correspondence: Yazeed A. Al-Noaimat

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