Compressive Strength and Durability Properties of Lightweight Concrete Bricks under Full Water Curing and Air-Dry Curing

Abstract

Due to the serious environmental pollution and the production of huge energy consuming building materials, the development of new eco-friendly and energy saving building materials to overcome these issues has been gaining increased attention. This paper presents the potential use of both agricultural and industrial wastes namely Rice Husk Ash (RHA) and Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) respectively as raw material for the production of 'Green' lightweight concrete bricks. RHA was used as partial cement replacement, while the EPS was used as partial aggregate replacement in the mixes. In this investigation, the control sample with a Cement: Sand: EPS ratio of 1.0: 1.5: 1.5 was first produced. The cement in the sample was then replaced by 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of RHA. A w/c ratio of 0.5 was used throughout this investigation. Full water curing and air-dry curing conditions were employed in this investigation. The properties investigated were slump, fresh concrete density, air content, compressive strength, water absorption, sorptivity and thermal conductivity. It was determined that EPS RHA concrete brick gives promising results.