Effects of fly ash addition on compressive strength and flexural strength of foamed cement composites

Abstract

In this study, the mixing of polystyrene (PS) beads and fly ash as a sand replacement material in foamed cement composites (FCC) has been investigated. Specifically, the mechanical properties such as compressive strength and flexural strength were measured. Different proportions of fly ash were added in cement composites to replace the sand proportion at 3 wt. %, 6 wt. %, 9 wt. % and 12 wt. % respectively. The water to cement ratio was fixed at 0.65 meanwhile ratios of PS beads used was 0.25 volume percent of samples as a foaming agent. All samples at different mixed were cured at 7 and 28 days respectively. Based on the results of compressive strength, it was found that the compressive strength was increased with the increasing addition of fly ash. Meanwhile, flexural strength was decreased with the increasing addition of fly ash up to 9 wt. %. The foamed cement composites with 12 wt. % of fly ash produced the highest strength of compressive strength meanwhile 3 wt. % of fly ash produced the highest strength of flexural strength.