Masonry bond by using different percentage of palm oil clinker substitution with water-cement ratio variation

Abstract

Palm oil clinker (POC) which is relatively low cost and abundantly available had the potential as a replacement for aggregates in the production of mortar. This study investigated the effects of substitution of palm oil clinker aggregates in mortar with different water-cement ratio towards the bond strength of brick-mortar masonry which determined by flexural tensile strength. 6 types of samples were prepared with POC substitution percentage of 0%, 50% and 100% and water-cement ratio of 0.5 and 0.6. Each type of sample has two set summered up to 12 samples in total. The sand aggregate is replaced by POC using volume method. The samples are cured and crushed after 28 days to determine the flexural strength. The result of this study indicated that, the higher percentage of POC substitution, the lower the flexural strength of the sample. It also observed that, brick-mortar with water cement ratio of 0.5 had higher value of strength compare to brick-mortar with water cement ratio of 0.6. Result also shows that, it is difficult to replace the aggregate in the mortar by 100 %. As the POC waste seriously need to be reduced, the aggregate can be replaced by only a small percentage and safe depend on the function of the mortar. It is not advisable to replace mortar used in a high rise building. But for small less important structure such guard house, the aggregate can be replaced by suitable amount of POC.