Feasibility Studies on Ferrocement Using Coconut Husk Mortar

Abstract

In the realm of mortar constituents, fine aggregates play a pivotal role. newlineTraditionally, river sand is the preferred choice as a fine aggregate. However, the extraction newlineof river sand has raised concerns due to its adverse environmental impacts. There arises a newlinecritical need to identify suitable alternative materials to alleviate the reliance on natural newlineresources. This entails repurposing materials often regarded as waste, leading to the dual newlinebenefits of finding an eco-friendly substitute for river sand while effectively managing waste newlinematerials. This research primarily focuses on evaluating the performance of coconut husk as newlinea fine aggregate in the production of coconut husk mortar for ferrocement application. The newlineutilization of coconut husk in this manner is relatively uncommon, and there is limited newlineinformation available concerning its effects on cement mortar. Therefore, the present study newlinedeveloped mortar using cement-sand and cement-coconut husk mortar with steel fibre and newlineanalysed. The mix proportioning recommended in the ACI codes (ACI 549.1R-93 and ACI newline549.1R-97) and the Ferrocement WRD Handbook were used as guides. As per the ACI newline549.1R-93 and WRD handbook, it achieved the target compressive strength of 35 N/mm2 newlineboth conventional materials used mortar and coconut husk used mortar. It was noticed that newlinethe failure of coconut husk used mortar cubes is ductile in nature compared to the brittle newlinenature of the failure of conventional material used mortar cubes. For the optimized mixes newlinedesignated as CSM3, CSSFM1, CCHM1, and CSCHSFM8, investigated the microstructural newlineand mechanical properties. Microstructural studies through SEM, EDX and XRD reveal that newlinemortar produced using coconut husks does not interrupt the cement hydration process and it newlineis comparable to conventional mortar newline