TITLE:
Effectiveness of Rice Husk and Sugarcane Bagasse Ashes Blended Cement in Improving Properties of Concrete
AUTHORS:
Johnson Adegaye Adebola, Catherine Mayowa Ikumapayi, Chinwuba Arum
KEYWORDS:
Concrete, Rice Husk Ash, Sugarcane Bagasse Ash, Compressive Strength, Permeability, Sorptivity
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering,
Vol.11 No.8,
August
29,
2023
ABSTRACT: This paper emphasized the use of rice husk ash (RHA) and sugarcane bagasse ash (SBA) in improving concrete properties, and also their combined effects on workability, compressive strength, flexural strength, permeability and water absorption capacity. Thus, in this study, the water-to-cement ratio was kept constant (0.45), the binder materials content for conventional mix was kept constant at (350 kg/m3) and the partial replacement of cement with RHASBA used was 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% by weight of cement. The maximum compressive strength was noted at a 5% replacement level of cement with RHASBA. The Results showed that the optimum replacement of cement with RHASBA in concrete was 5%, which was found to increase the compressive strength by 15%, flexural strength by 3.4%, lowered permeability by 50%, lowered sorptivity by 11.34% as compared with control concrete at 90 days of curing time. The micro-structural test results further established that RHA and SBA have a high content of SiO2 which enables them to be more reactive in concrete and also revealed that the presence of RHASBA depletes Ca(OH)2 crystals, converting it into CaH2O4Si (C-S-H gel) leading to the strengthening of bond within the concrete matrix.