Behavior of concrete with saw dust at fresh and hardened states

Abstract

Nowadays technology in concrete has been developing in many ways to enhance the quality and properties of concrete. For this project, saw dust is used in the making of concrete. This project is carried out to study the behavior of saw dust in concrete at fresh and hardened states. It is also to establish the effects of concrete on workability, compressive strength and percentage of water absorption at different sawdust content. The sawdust is used as the replacement of sand in this project. The ratio of sawdust used is 5%, 10% and 15%. All the three ratios will be compared with the normal concrete which does not have sawdust in the concrete. The samples will be done using the 100 mm x 100 mm x 100 mm cubes of mould. Samples were cured in curing tank for 7 days, 14 days and 28 days for compression strength test. From the overall results of laboratory tests, the maximum quantity of saw dust to be added into concrete mix without influencing the strength of the concrete is 5% of weight of sand used. For water absorption test, the concrete samples which are containing 15% sawdust absorb more water than the other samples. The water absorption of concrete is increasing when the sawdust content is increasing and the strength of the concrete is decreasing.