The role of palm oil fiber (POF) on strength of hardened concrete

Abstract

Technology in concrete has been developing in many ways to enhance the quality and properties of concrete. One of the technological advances in improving the quality of concrete is by using additives. Additives was substances added to fresh concrete in small quantities ,typically so as to improve its properties. This research was carried out to establish the effects of palm oil fiber addition on workability , water absorption and flexural strengths in concrete with mix design of constant water-cement ratio. The mixes were prepared with fiber-cement ratio of 0.25% , 0.50% and 0.75% with different length of fiber. The size of specimen tested was 100 mm x 100 mm x 500 mm beams for flexural strength. Specimens were cured in water for 7 , 14 and 28 days before testing . Workability of palm oil fiber added concrete decrease with the increase of fiber content in the concrete mix. The result from flexural test also demonstrated that the fiber content increase the flexural strength when added 0.25% fiber was added for 7 days,0.97 MPa and 14 days ,1.51 MPa and 0.75% for 28 days,1.36 MPa. Even though adding fiber contributes to strength increase, but the strength does not increase with increasing fiber content ( percentage) . In other words, the increase in strength is only up to certain amount of fiber content.