Sugarcane-Bagasse-Fibre-Reinforced Concrete: Evaluation of Compressive and Splitting Tensile Strengths

Abstract

In view of the increasing cost of raw materials and depleting natural resources in many developed countries, adoption of waste in construction materials has to be considered. Fibre-reinforced concrete (FRC) is a type of concrete that employs steel or synthetic fibres. Sugarcane bagasse fibre (SCBF), which is a waste material from the agricultural industry, can potentially be utilized in FRC as an alternative to steel or synthetic fibres. In light of the potential, in the present study, compressive and splitting tensile strengths of sugarcane-bagasse-fibre-reinforced concrete (SCB-FRC) at varying volumes of SCBF were evaluated. Four types of concrete samples were prepared, which are the control sample that does not contain any SCBF and SCB-FRC samples that contain 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5% of SCBF of 5-cm fibre lengths by volume of cement. Samples were cured in water for 7 and 28 days for compressive strength testing and 28 days for splitting tensile testing. Findings indicate that the optimum fibre volume is 1.0%, where the highest compressive strengths of 24.75 and 33.02 MPa were achieved at 7 and 28 days of curing, respectively, and the highest splitting tensile strength of 2.61 MPa was achieved. Formation of fibre bundles during mixing may have resulted in the decrease in strength as the fibre volume was further increased from 1.0 to 1.5%.