The mechanical properties of lightweight foamed concrete incorporated with different proportions of oil palm shell

Abstract

Malaysia is an eminent exporter nation of palm oil, which generated 19.14 million tonnes of the resource in solely year 2020. Nevertheless, massive amount of oil palm shell has been generated as the by product from the manufacturing of palm oil. Over the past decades, numerous researches have ascertained the possibilities of converting the oil palm shell to something beneficial, for instance its adoption as lightweight aggregate in construction industry. The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of oil palm shell proportions (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%) on the mechanical properties of oil palm shell lightweight foamed concrete (OPSLFC). Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength tests were conducted to evaluate the mechanical performance of OPSLFC possessing various oil palm shell proportions. Generally, the strength properties improve as the oil palm shell replacement level increases. In comparison between OPSLFC-0 and OPSLFC-50 samples, the increment percentages of compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength are 18.89 % (10.48 MPa to 12.46 MPa), 22.28 % (1.84 MPa to 2.25 MPa) and 26.74 % (7.03 MPa to 8.91 MPa), respectively. Furthermore, the employment of oil palm shell enhances the flexural strength of the OPSLFC remarkably.