Material Properties of Agriculture Straw Fibre-Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

China is the world largest agricultural country with the sown grain area of 113.34 million hectares recording a total grain output of 576.35 million tonnes in 2015 (NBS China 2016). The high production of agricultural products has resulted in a significant amount of straw from crops (e.g. wheat, rice and corn) where burning has been the most convenient way of disposal. The consequence has caused serious waste of natural resources, high carbon emissions, air pollution and environmental issues (haze) particularly in the central part of China such as Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi and Jiangsu provinces. The Chinese Government reacted to this problem by introducing environmental regulation since 2000 with an aim to diminish the straw-burning activities. However, this has not been shown to be a viable solution due to the lack of robust, cost-effective and sustainable recycling/reuse technology. The common research dealing with agricultural straw has been the substitution for fertilizer, conversion to bioenergy and making recycled composites but these techniques are still at their early stage of development and lack of economic advantage. The combination of straw with cement-based materials would have the greatest potential for its widespread application due to the rapid development of China in construction industry. However, recent research has been primarily restricted to adopt straw fibres as reinforcements in concrete masonry blocks where its fundamental material properties are still not fully understood. Fibre-reinforced concrete (FRC) has been a widely used construction material because of its exceptional performance, efficiency and cost-saving features. In order to save carbon emission and reduce environmental impact, by making an effective use of straw fibres in concrete is no doubt a significant step towards low carbon and sustainable construction in the era of rapid economic growth and industrialisation in China. The main aim of this research is to advance knowledge on the mechanical characteristics of agricultural straw fibre-reinforced concrete (ASFRC) that involves the investigation of its compressive and tensile performance.