Effect of Ceramic Dust as Partial Replacement of Cement on Lightweight Foamed Concrete

Disposal of waste into the landfill causes a severe impact on the environment. One of the waste products is ceramic waste. Ceramic waste has some excellent properties in its durability, hardness, and highly resistant to biological, chemical, and physical degradation forces. These excellent properties of the ceramic waste may make it suitable to be used in concrete. This study investigates the effect on the compressive strength of lightweight foamed concrete with different percentage of ceramic dust replacement level towards the cement and three different levels of water-cement ratio. 0%, 5%, 15%, and 25% of replacement level with 0.52, 0.56, and 0.60 water-cement ratios respectively for each replacement level was used as the parameter to investigate the fresh properties, and strength performance of lightweight foamed concrete. The stability and consistency of every mix are studied as well. From this study, it was observed that the incorporation of ceramic waste dust partially replaced the cement did not affect on the fresh properties of the foamed concrete. However, the compressive strength of foamed concrete affected by ceramic waste dust partially replaced the cement

Mechanical properties and impact resistance of hybrid fibre-reinforced high strength concrete / Yew Ming Kun

Concrete is the most widely used construction material since it has the lowest ratio between strength to cost as compared to other available materials. Over the years many researchers have been able to overcome the inherent weaknesses of concrete thereby making it significantly more suitable for a wide variety of applications. The introduction of reinforcement by short discrete fibres (steel, nylon and polypropylene) that are randomly distributed can be practiced among other that remedy weaknesses of concrete such as brittleness, low crack growth resistance, low durability, etc. Fibre-reinforced concrete is a composite obtained by adding a single type or a blend of fibres to the concrete mix. The use of one type of fibre alone helps to eliminate or reduce the effects of only a few specific undesirable properties. Based on previous studies, the addition of two types of fibres in a suitable combination would help to improve more properties of concrete amongst the fibres. This aspect of combining the fibres, i.e. hybridizing the fibres in a rational manner to derive maximum benefits, is investigated in a research on very high strength concrete. High performance fibres- reinforced concrete, with matrix strength of about 100 MPa was used. An attempt was made resulting in a concrete mix suitable for practical use, with the required workability, density, etc. This was achieved by making use of proper admixtures including silica fume and superplasticizers. The amount and type of fibres to be used in the hybrid composites were planned such that the strength properties of the hybrid fibres behaviour could be evaluated. The basic properties of the hybridized material evaluated and analyzed extensively were the mechanical properties of the material. The various fibre types used in diverse combinations included macro and micro fibres of steel, nylon and polypropylene. Control mixes and double fibre hybrids were investigated. Along with basic mechanical properties, modified cube compressive, non-destructive test (ultrasonic pulse velocity,dynamic modulus of elasticity and static modulus of elasticity) and impact resistance tests were also carried out. Results from previous studies indicated that more attractive engineering properties were observed associated with different fibre types when hybridized with macro and micro fibres of steel and nylon demonstrated maximum strength. The volume fraction of macro fibres used for any of the mixes was 0.4% and 0.9% of steel fibres respectively and it appears that this macro fibre volume fraction is high enough to observe maximized strength properties in the hybrids. These amounts of fibres appear to be high enough to make the post peak response of the matrix insensitive to the addition of small dosages (0.1% Vf) of other fibres, such as nylon and polypropylene micro fibres

Mechanical properties and durability of fibre reinforced oil palm shell high strength lightweight concrete / Yew Ming Kun

Oil palm shells (OPS) are agricultural solid end products produced by the oil palm manufacturing process. Palm trees grow in regions with hot climate and copious rainfall such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Nigeria. In Malaysia, oil palm fruits can be classified as dura, tenera, and pisifera. Different species and age categories of dura and tenera lightweight coarse aggregates are used in this study. The density of the shells is within the range of a majority lightweight aggregates and the specific gravity of the shells ranges between 1.15 and 1.37 g/cm3. A number of studies over the last two decades showed that the compressive strength of oil palm shell lightweight concrete is within 17-35 MPa and there is a reduction in density of 20-25% compared to normal weight concrete. Researchers have also found that oil palm shell lightweight concrete has lower mechanical and durability properties compared to normal weight and artificial lightweight aggregate concrete. Hence, a detailed investigation on the possibility of producing high strength lightweight concrete by using OPS and their effect on the mechanical and durability properties of the concrete are carried out in this study. In this study, it is found that high strength lightweight concrete with high workability can be produced by proper selection of OPS species and age categories of OPS. The results reveal that the use of 10 to 15-year-old crushed dura OPS (classified as ‘young prime’) gives a maximum achievable 28-day compressive strength of 54 MPa and dry density of about 1890 and 1996 kg/m3. The water absorption values for all high strength lightweight concrete investigated in this study are lower than 10%, which falls within the range of good concrete. It is also found that heat-treated OPS can be used to produce high strength lightweight concrete. The OPS are heat-treated at a temperature of 60 ⁰C over 0.5 h which gives a 28-day compressive strength of 49 MPa. In addition, the specimens can be categorized as good condition after three days based on the ultra pulse velocity test results. Another technique that can be used to compensate the low mechanical properties and durability of OPS concrete without increasing its density concrete is to reinforce the concrete with different types of polypropylene fibres. It is found that the addition of polypropylene fibres at an optimum volume fraction into OPS concrete significantly increases the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength compared with previous studies. In terms of durability and time-dependent performance, it is found out that the high strength lightweight concrete reinforced with heat-treated OPS and polypropylene twisted bundle fibres have low porosity, chloride ion penetration, water absorption, initial surface absorption and drying shrinkage values compared to OPS without heat treatment. Furthermore, the PPTB fibres can be used to reduce sensitivity of the oil palm shell concrete towards poor curing environments. The stress-strain curves of polypropylene fibre reinforced OPS concrete are indicative that the concrete is a ductile material. The findings of this study prove that PPTB fibres can be used as alternative materials to enhance mechanical the properties and durability of OPS lightweight concrete

A New Mixing Method for Lightweight Concrete with Oil Palm Shell as Coarse Aggregate

Oil Palm Shell (OPS) is the solid waste product from the palm oil sector of the agricultural industry. The substitution of coarse aggregate in concrete with OPS to produce lightweight concrete (LWC) had been researched since two decades ago. The author has discovered fluctuation on the performance of OPSLWC. One of the factors is the workability. As an initiative to enhance the performance of OPSLWC, the author proposes a new mixing method (NMM) modified from the mix design of self-compacting concrete (SCC). The effects of the NMM on the workability, uniformity, compressive strength and splitting tensile strength are investigated. The workability of the NMM is 25.5% higher than the conventional method (CM). The compressive strength shows an improvement of 5.76%; while the splitting tensile strength is increased by 22.35%. The new findings of this research have shown a positive impact on the concrete industry

Experimental Analysis of Lightweight Fire-Rated Board on Fire Resistance, Mechanical, and Acoustic Properties

Using lightweight fire-rated board (LFRB) presents cost-effective opportunities for various passive fire protection measures. The aim of the project is to develop an LFRB with enhanced fire resistance, acoustic properties, and mechanical properties. These properties were determined using a Bunsen burner, furnace, energy-dispersive X-ray, impedance tube instrument, and Instron universal testing machine. To fabricate the LFRBs, vermiculite and perlite were blended with flame-retardant binders, and four types of LFRBs were produced. A fire test was conducted to compare the fire-resistance performance of the LFRBs with a commercially available flame-retardant board. The B2 prototype showed exceptional fire-resistant properties, with a temperature reduction of up to 73.0 °C, as compared to the commercially available fire-rated magnesium board. Incorporating nano chicken eggshell into the specially formulated flame-retardant binder preserved the LFRBs’ structural integrity, enabling them to withstand fire for up to 120 min with an equilibrium temperature of 92.6 °C. This approach also provided an absorption coefficient of α = 2.0, a high flexural strength of 3.54 MPa, and effective flame-retardancy properties with a low oxygen/carbon ratio of 2.60. These results make the LFRBs valuable for passive fire protection applications in the construction and building materials industry

Development of advanced intumescent flame-retardant binder for fire rated timber door

Intumescent flame-retardant binder (IFRB) offers a great advancement for the most efficient utilization of a wide variety of passive fire safety system at the recent development. This article highlights the fire-resistance and thermal properties of the IFRB using Bunsen burner and thermogravimetric analysis. The five IFRB formulations were mixed with vermiculite and perlite for the fabrication of fire-resistant timber door prototypes. Additionally, the fire rated door prototypes were compared under 2 hours fire test. The prototype (P2), with a low density of 637 kg/m3 showed the superlative fire-resistance rating performance, resulting in temperature reduction by up to 58.9 °C, as compared with that of prototype (P1). Significantly, an innovative fire rated timber door prototype with the addition of formulating intumescent binder has verified to be effective in stopping fires and maintaining its integrity by surviving a fire resistance period of 2 hours

Effects of Low Volume Fraction of Polyvinyl Alcohol Fibers on the Mechanical Properties of Oil Palm Shell Lightweight Concrete

This paper presents the effects of low volume fraction (Vf) of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers on the mechanical properties of oil palm shell (OPS) high strength lightweight concrete mixtures. The slump, density, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, and modulus of elasticity under various curing conditions have been measured and evaluated. The results indicate that an increase in PVA fibers decreases the workability of the concrete and decreases the density slightly. The 28-day compressive strength of oil palm shell fiber-reinforced concrete (OPSFRC) high strength lightweight concrete (HSLWC) subject to continuous moist curing was within the range of 43–49 MPa. The average modulus of elasticity (E) value is found to be 16.1 GPa for all mixes, which is higher than that reported in previous studies and is within the range of normal weight concrete. Hence, the findings of this study revealed that the PVA fibers can be used as an alternative material to enhance the properties of OPS HSLWC for building and construction applications

Strength properties of renewable bio-based lightweight foam concrete incorporating of polypropylene fibre

This paper investigates the incorporating of renewable lightweight bio-based aggregate (RLWBBA) in lightweight foam concrete (LWFC). The aim of this research is to incorporate different volume fraction (Vf) of polypropylene (PP) fibre into LWFC to determine the optimum compressive strength and splitting tensile strength. Four different mix was designed containing different percentage of PP replacement (0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3%). From the results, the compressive strength of the oil palm shell lightweight foamed concrete with 0.3% of macro polypropylene fibre (OPSLWFC/0.3) had showed the highest compressive strength and splitting tensile strength at 28 days, which are recorded at 4.01 MPa and 0.62 MPa respectively. It also showed the lowest density among all the mix design which is 1152 kg/m3 under demoulded condition. The OPSLWFC/0.3 has increased about 23.38% of 28 days compressive strength and 37.78% of splitting tensile strength compared to the control mix, which contains 0% of fibre proportion. Hence, the findings of this research revealed that the development of environmentally friendly lightweight foamed concrete can be used as an alternative solution for traditional lightweight concrete

Effects of Oil Palm Shell Coarse Aggregate Species on High Strength Lightweight Concrete

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of different species of oil palm shell (OPS) coarse aggregates on the properties of high strength lightweight concrete (HSLWC). Original and crushed OPS coarse aggregates of different species and age categories were investigated in this study. The research focused on two OPS species (dura and tenera), in which the coarse aggregates were taken from oil palm trees of the following age categories (3–5, 6–9, and 10–15 years old). The results showed that the workability and dry density of the oil palm shell concrete (OPSC) increase with an increase in age category of OPS species. The compressive strength of specimen CD3 increases significantly compared to specimen CT3 by 21.8%. The maximum achievable 28-day and 90-day compressive strength is 54 and 56 MPa, respectively, which is within the range for 10–15-year-old crushed dura OPS. The water absorption was determined to be within the range for good concrete for the different species of OPSC. In addition, the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) results showed that the OPS HSLWC attain good condition at the age of 3 days

Fire Resistance and Mechanical Properties of Intumescent Coating Using Novel BioAsh for Steel

Recent developments of intumescent fire-protective coatings used in steel buildings are important to ensure the structural integrity and safe evacuation of occupants during fire accidents. Flame-retardant intumescent coating applied to structural steel could delay the spread of fire and heat propagation across spaces and structures in minimizing fire risks. This research focuses on formulating a green intumescent coating utilized the BioAsh, a by-product derived from natural rubberwood (hardwood) biomass combustion as the natural substitute of mineral fillers in the intumescent coating. Fire resistance, chemical, physical and mechanical properties of all samples were examined via Bunsen burner, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), carbolite furnace, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), freeze–thaw cycle, static immersion and Instron pull-off adhesion test. Sample BioAsh intumescent coating (BAIC) 4-7 incorporated with 3.5 wt.% BioAsh exhibited the best performances in terms of fire resistance (112.5 °C for an hour under the Bunsen burner test), thermal stability (residual weight of 29.48 wt.% at 1000 °C in TGA test), adhesion strength (1.73 MPa under Instron pull-off adhesion test), water resistance (water absorption rate of 8.72%) and freeze–thaw durability (no crack, blister and color change) as compared to other samples. These results reveal that an appropriate amount of renewable BioAsh incorporated as natural mineral fillers into the intumescent coating could lead to better fire resistance and mechanical properties for the steel structures