Reply to Discussion “Geopolymers Based on Recycled Glass Powder for Soil Stabilization” Jair de Jesús Arrieta Baldovino, Ronaldo Luis dos Santos Izzo, Juliana Lundgren Rose, and Mônica Angélica Avanci

Abstract

We thank the discussers for their interest in our research paper (Baldovino et al. 2020a) and for sharing their discussion. We also appreciate the opportunity to clarify the issues raised by the discussers of this paper. The objective of this closure is to provide more insight into the topic of cement-soil-glass powder compacted blends questioned by the discussers. The objective of the original article was to investigate the enhancement of split tensile strength (qt) and durability against wetting–drying cycles of compacted soil–cement blends by adding recycled glass powder (GP) as a precursor of geopolymerization complementing the study carried out by Baldovino et al. (2020b). We verified the porosity-to-cement index g/ Civ can be extended when blends are compacted under the molding conditions proposed in the original article. Without hesitation, contributions by Brazilian colleagues have played a critical role in today’s understanding of geomaterials properties and behavior. Thereby, the answers to the discussion questions are explained as follows. The discussers seem to have misunderstood some of the content of the paper which has led them to believe that we have investigated unconfined compressive strength. Only split tensile strength, durability by accumulated loss of mass (ALM), and microstructure were investigated. We calculated the value of Civ (i.e. volumetric cement content) by dividing the volume of initial cement contained in a specimen and its total volume (i.e. 196.35 cm). The volume of the specimen is independent of GP content and the volume of initial Portland cement too. Thus, it is not clear to us how the discussers can affirm that Civ does not capture the GP values. Discussers commented on the porosity-cement (g/ Civ) parameter using in the original paper is not useful to capture the effects of large amounts of glass powder on ALM values. It is somewhat contradictory to what Juliana Lundgren Rose—Deceased