{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]],"date-time":"2026-01-27T12:36:24Z","timestamp":1769517384450,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"22","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,8]],"date-time":"2024-11-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1731024000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Despite the steady progress of research on the alkali activation of wastes or subproducts from established industrial processes, the brittleness of the hardened alkali-activated materials frequently results in questionable mechanical reliability, particularly in industrial applications beyond construction materials. This work used a 33 factorial Design of Experiments to examine the effect of three different particle size distributions on the compressive strength and mechanical reliability (Weibull modulus) of a sodium silicate-activated blast-furnace slag under the same processing conditions. As expected, curing temperature and time were strongly correlated, and the corresponding response surfaces showed that, for all studied particle sizes, compressive strengths above 60 MPa with mechanical reliability above 5.0 could be obtained by curing at ~60 \u00b0C for ~40 h. The particle size differences caused no significant changes in the extent of alkali activation, as seen in the infrared-spectroscopy results. However, the intersection of the response surfaces showed that a coarser and narrower particle size distribution extended the working area (time \u00d7 temperature) and favored mechanical reliability. Thus, the precursor\u2019s particle size distribution, which governs particle packing and viscosity during processing, also determines the permeability of the set binder, which affects water removal during drying and the dried binder\u2019s mechanical performance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma17225461","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,8]],"date-time":"2024-11-08T06:05:41Z","timestamp":1731045941000},"page":"5461","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Assessing the Drying Sensitivity of Alkali-Activated Binders Through Mechanical Reliability: Effect of Particle Size and Packing"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7653-9366","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Willian F.","family":"Camargo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering and Materials Science, University of Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul 95070-560, RS, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6465-620X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana M.","family":"Segad\u00e3es","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Materials and Ceramics Engineering (CICECO), University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7081-1568","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robinson C. D.","family":"Cruz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering and Materials Science, University of Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul 95070-560, RS, Brazil"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3864","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1551-2916.2008.02787.x","article-title":"Designing Precursors for Geopolymer Cements","volume":"91","author":"Duxson","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Am. Ceram. Soc."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Palomo, A., Maltseva, O., Garcia-Lodeiro, I., and Fern\u00e1ndez-Jim\u00e9nez, A. (2021). Portland Versus Alkaline Cement: Continuity or Clean Break: \u2018A Key Decision for Global Sustainability\u2019. Front. Chem., 9.","DOI":"10.3389\/fchem.2021.705475"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pacheco-Torgal, F., Labrincha, J.A., Leonelli, C., Palomo, A., and Chindaprasirt, P. (2015). 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