Properties of modified sand brick using coconut shell

Abstract

In accordance with conservation efforts, this research is focuses on prevention of environmental pollution and considers the elements of sustainable and cost-saving for construction projects, especially material usage. Awareness of environmental issues has been growing in recent years, with these issues similarly emphasized in development and construction. The development of a new innovative, low cost building material that is composed of coconut shell waste where is widely available and extremely cheap resource, modified sand brick using coconut shell was investigated in this research. The specimen of the brick prepared in this research is standard sand brick named as BS, 10%, 20% and 30% proportion of coconut shell named as B10, B20, B30 are used as part of cement replacement in the mixes. The ratio of the sand brick use in this research is 1:3 which stands for 1 part of cement and 3 parts of sand. The main aim of this research is to identify the chemical compound of coconut shell and compare with cement compound to know whether it can react as a good binder in the mix and it is possible to replace cement. The physical properties of this modified sand brick including colours, texture, and density was studied. Engineering properties such as 7 days compressive strength and water absorption also was determined. After that, both properties of the modified sand brick was compared with the standard sand brick in the market. This modified sand brick also marketable because it have lower price compare with the standard sand brick for 2 to 3 cent for individual brick. The result indicates that the modified sand brick have almost similar compressive strength compare to standard sand brick. While the percentage of water absorption is depend on its texture and characteristic of the material use.