THE APPLICATION OF OIL PALM FIBER ON CONCRETE STRUCTURE ...eprints.utem.edu.my/16639/1/The Application Of Oil Palm Fiber On... · konkrit. Tambahan pula, ujian mampatan dan ujian

THE APPLICATION OF OIL PALM FIBER ON CONCRETE STRUCTURE

MATERIALS

KHOR CHEE IU

UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

SUPERVISOR DECLARATION

“I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my opinion this report is

sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Bachelor of

Mechanical Engineering (Design & Innovation)”

Signature : ......................................

Supervisor : DR. MOHD AHADLIN BIN MOHD DAUD

Date : ......................................

THE APPLICATION OF OIL PALM FIBER ON CONCRETE STRUCTURE

MATERIALS

KHOR CHEE IU

This report is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award

Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Design & Innovation)

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

JUNE 2015

ii

DECLARATION

“I hereby declare that the work in this report is my own except for summaries and

quotations which have been duly acknowledged.”

Signature :………………………….

Author : KHOR CHEE IU

Date :………………………….

iii

DEDICATION

This research project is dedicated to my beloved family who are always there for me

through my ups and downs in life.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In preparing this project, I was in contact with many people, lecturers,

technicians and academicians. They have contributed towards my understanding and

thoughts. All the knowledge and information provided by them are really helpful.

First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr.

Mohd Ahadlin bin Mohd Daud for the valuable guidance, advices, support and

encouragement. He inspired me in doing this project, and his willingness to motivate

me contributed a lot in my project.

Furthermore, I would like to thank the authority of my University, Universiti

Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) for providing a good environment and facilities

for my study and research. Moreover, I would like to thank the technicians and staff

from the lab of Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (FKM) for their assistance in this

study.

Last but not the least, I am using this opportunity to express my gratitude and

thank to my beloved family, fellow friends and anyone who have provided assistance

at various occasions. Their views and tips are useful indeed.

v

ABSTRACT

Oil palm fiber is one of the agricultural by-products from palm oil industry.

If it is not treated properly, it may become solid waste in landfills. However, oil palm

fiber is high in tension and low in density, hence many researches were conducted by

scientists and engineers regarding the application of this fiber on the concrete

structure material. In this project, oil palm fiber was applied to the concrete in order

to produce the lightweight concretes and determine the optimum composition of this

concrete. The ingredients of these oil palm fiber concretes are oil palm fiber, fly ash,

sand, cement, and water. Thirteen types of concrete specimens with different

percentage of ingredients were prepared. The effects of oil palm fiber as well as fly

ash on the physical and mechanical properties of concrete were studied and evaluated

through several testing. Density test and water absorption test were carried out by

using a densimeter and some calculation. Dino Lite microscope was used to conduct

the microstructural analysis, by observing and analyzing the microstructure of these

concrete specimens. Furthermore, compression test and splitting tensile test were

carried out by using an Instron Machine. Density, percentage of water absorption,

microstructure, compressive strength and, splitting tensile strength were obtained

from these testing. The data and results were tabulated in tables and analyzed by

using graphs and charts. As a result, the optimum composition of oil palm fiber

concrete was obtained with lower density, lower water absorptivity, good

microstructure, and relatively higher compressive and splitting tensile strength. The

optimum concrete specimen is D2 with the composition of 1 % oil palm fiber, 9 %

fly ash, 40 % sand, 50 % cement, and extra 50 % water.

vi

ABSTRAK

Serat kelapa sawit adalah salah satu produk sampingan dari industri minyak

sawit. Jika serat kelapa sawit tidak diurus dengan tepat, ia akan menjadi sisa pepejal

di tapak pelupusan. Walaubagaimanapun, serat kelapa sawit mempunyai ketegangan

yang tinggi dan kepadatan yang rendah. Oleh itu, banyak kajian telah dijalankan oleh

ahli sains and jurutera terhadap kesan-kesan penggunaan serat kelapa sawit dalam

bahan struktur konkrit. Dalam projek ini, serat kelapa sawit telah digunakan untuk

menghasilkan konkrit yang ringan, serta menentukan optimum komposisi pada

konkrit ini. Serat kelapa sawit, abu terbang, pasir, simen, dan air merupakan bahan

campuran untuk menghasilkan konkrit ini. Tiga belas jenis specimen konkrit dengan

peratusan bahan yang berbeza telah disediakan. Kesan serat kelapa sawit dan abu

terbang pada sifat-sifat fizikal dan mekanikal konkrit telah dikaji dan dinilai melalui

beberapa ujian. Ujian ketumpatan dan ujian penyerapan air telah dijalankan dengan

menggunakan Densimeter. Dino Lite mikroskop digunakan untuk menjalankan

analisis mikrostruktur, dengan memerhati dan menganalisis mikrostruktur specimen

konkrit. Tambahan pula, ujian mampatan dan ujian tegangan telah dijalankan dengan

mengunakan Mesin Instron. Ketumpatan, peratusan penyerapan air, microsktruktur,

kekuatan mampatan serta tegangan diperolehi daripada ujian-ujian tersebut. Data dan

keputusan telah dijadualkan dan dianalisis dengan menggunakan graf-graf dan carta-

carta. Pada kesimpulannya, komposisi konkrit gentian kelapa sawit yang paling

optimum telah diperolehi dengan kepadatan yang rendah, penyerapan air yang

rendah, mikrostruktur yang baik, kekuatan mampatan dan tegangan yang tinggi.

Spesimen konkrit yang optimum adalah D2 dengan komposisi 1 % serat kelapa sawit,

9 % abu terbang,40 % pasir, 50 % simen, dan tambahan 50 % air.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENT vii

LIST OF TABLES x

LIST OF FIGURES xi

LIST OF ABBREVIATION xiii

LIST OF EQUATION xiv

LIST OF APPENDIX xv

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Problem Statement 2

1.3 Objective 3

1.4 Scope 3

1.5 Significant of Study 4

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction to Oil Palm Fiber 5

2.2 Introduction to concrete 7

2.2.1 History of concrete 8

2.2.2 Properties of concrete 9

2.2.3 Application of Concrete 11

viii

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

2.3 Introduction to Lightweight Concrete 12

2.4 Introduction of Oil Palm Fiber Concrete 14

2.4.1 Cement 14

2.4.2 Sand 14

2.4.3 Oil Palm Fiber 15

2.4.4 Water 15

2.4.5 Fly ash 16

2.4.5.1 Advantages of fly ash 17

2.5 Introduction to Previous Research 19

2.5.1

Effect of OPTF on Mechanical

Properties

19

2.5.2 Effect of Fly Ash on Strength 21

2.5.3 Effect of OPF on Microstructure of

Concrete

22

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction 23

3.2 Flow Chart 24

3.3 Composition Table 25

3.4 Method of Production 27

3.4.1 Raw Materials 27

3.4.2 Procedure for Mixing Concrete 29

3.4.2.1 Curing Process 31

3.5 Methods of Testing and Characterization 33

3.6 Density Measurement 34

3.7 Water Absorption Test 36

3.8 Microstructural Analysis 37

3.9 Compression Test 38

3.10 Splitting Tensile Test 40

3.11 Operation of Instron Machine 42

ix

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

CHAPTER 4 DATA AND RESULT

4.1 Introduction 45

4.2 Density Result 46

4.3 Water Absorption Result 48

4.4 Microstructural Analysis 50

4.5 Compressive Strength Result 64

4.6 Splitting Tensile Strength Result 66

CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

5.1 Introduction 68

5.2 Effect of OPF and Fly Ash on the Density of

Concrete

68

5.3 Effect of OPF and Fly Ash on the Water

Absorption of Concrete

70

5.4 Effect of OPF and Fly Ash on the

Microstructure of Concrete

72

Effect of OPF and Fly Ash on the Strengths of

Concrete

73

5.5 Effect of OPF the Ductility of Concrete 74

5.6 Summary of Data and Results 76

5.7 Optimum OPF Concrete and its Composition 77

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

6.1 Conclusion 80

6.2 Recommendation 82

REFERENCES 83

APPENDICES 88

x

LIST OF TABLES

NO. TITLE PAGE

2.1 Properties of Oil Palm Trunk Fiber 6

2.2 Properties of conventional concrete 9

2.3 Application of concrete 11

2.3 Minimum compressive strength (N/mm2) of structural

lightweight concrete in several codes

17

2.4 Mechanical properties of concrete with different percentage of

OPTF

20

3.1 Composition of the concrete specimens 25

3.2 ASTM Standards 33

3.3 Data of the compression test 44

4.1 Density of concrete specimens 46

4.2 Percentage of water absorption after immersed in water for 24

hours

48

4.3 Maximum Compressive Load and Compressive Strength of

Concrete Specimens

64

4.4 Maximum Compressive Load and Splitting Tensile Strength of

Concrete Specimens

66

5.1 Reduction of density by OPF 68

5.2 Reduction of density by fly ash 69

5.3 Reduction of water absorption by OPF 70

5.4 Reduction of density by fly ash 70

5.5 Effect of the OPF and Fly Ash on the Properties of Concrete 76

5.6 Weighted Decision Matrix 78

5.7 Comparison between Specimen D1 and D2 79

xi

LIST OF FIGURES

NO. TITLE PAGE

2.1 Cement reaction and pozzolanic reaction of fly ash 16

2.2 Strength of fly ash concrete and straight cement concrete over

time

17

2.3 OPTF at magnification rate of 65X (left) and 1500 X (right) 19

2.4 Splitting tensile strength versus compressive strength of OPS

concrete with and without fly ash

21

2.5 Microstructure of concrete with and without fiber 22

3.1 Project Flow Chart 24

3.2 Cement 27

3.3 Sand 27

3.4 Oil Palm Fiber 28

3.5 Fly Ash 28

3.6 Slump Test 29

3.7 Curing of concretes 31

3.8 Effect of the curing process on compressive strength of the

concrete

32

3.9 Electronic Densimeter 35

3.10 Dino Lite microscope analysis 37

3.11 Directions of forces for compression test 38

3.12 Directions of forces for splitting tensile test 40

3.13 INSTRON Machine 42

3.14 Position of specimens for testing 43

3.15 Stress versus strain graph of compression test 44

4.1 Density of all concrete specimens 47

4.2 Percentage of water absorption of all concrete specimens 49

4.3 Microstructure of Specimen A1 in magnification rate of 50X 51

xii

4.4 Microstructure of Specimen A1 in magnification rate of 200 X 51





4.9 Microstructure of Specimen B1 in magnification rate of 50 X 54






4.15 Microstructure of Specimen C1 in magnification rate of 50 X 57






4.21 Microstructure of Specimen D1 in magnification rate of 50 X 60






4.27 Microstructure of Specimen P in magnification rate of 50 X 63

4.28 Microstructure of Specimen P in magnification rate of 200 X 63

4.29 Compressive strength of concrete specimens 65

4.30 Splitting tensile strength of concrete specimens 67

5.1 The relationship of compressive and splitting tensile strength

of concrete

73

5.2 Stress vs Strain Diagram 75

xiii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

ACI American Concrete Institute

ASTM American Standard Testing of Materials

ASTM C31 Standard Practice for Making and Curing Concrete Test

Specimen in the Field

ASTM C39 Standard Test Method for Compressive Strength of

Cylindrical Concrete Specimens

ASTM C138 Standard Test Method for Density (unit weight), Yield, and

Air Content of Concrete

ASTM C143 Standard Test Method for Slump of Hydraulic- Cement

Concrete

ASTM C330 Standard specification for lightweight aggregates for

structural concrete

ASTM C496 Standard Test Method for Splitting Tensile Strength of

Cylindrical Concrete Specimens

ASTM C567 Standard test method for determining the density of

structural lightweight concrete

CaOH Calcium Hydroxides

CCAA Cement, Concrete and Aggregates Australia

CSH Calcium silicate hydrate

FKM Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

IS Indian Standard

OPF Oil Palm Fibre

OPFC Oil Palm Fibre Concrete

OPS Oil Palm Shell

OPTE Oil Palm Trunk Fiber

SEM Scanning Electron Microscope

UTeM Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

xiv

LIST OF EQUATION

NO TITLE PAGE

3.1 Density 34

3.2 Volume 34

3.3 Percentage of Water Absorption 36

3.4 Stress 38

3.5 Splitting Tensile Strength 41

5.1 Strain 74

xv

LIST OF APPENDIX

NO TITLE PAGE

A Gantt Chart PSM 1 57

B Gantt chart for PSM 2 89

C Stress vs Strain Graph of Compression Test 90

D Stress vs Strain Graph of Splitting Tensile Test 95

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Malaysia is one of the largest palm oil producers and exporters in the world.

According to Plantation Industries and Commodities minister Datuk Amar Douglas

Uggah Embas, in the first quarter of the year 2014, Malaysia exported 1.3 million

tonnes of palm oil and palm-based products valued at RM 3.5 mil to China (Tho,

2014). Although it contributes a lot in our country, however the oil palm industries

produce abundant of oil palm by-products after palm oil extraction process. If these

by-products handle improperly, they may become solid wastes and then dispose in

landfills. Indirectly it is increasing the management cost for landfills as well as

causing pollution to the environment.

The growing need for sustainable development has motivated scientists and

engineers to make researches on the use of industrial by-products for other

application. In recent years, certain of industrial by-product such as oil palm shell

and fly ash have been used as construction materials. The oil palm shell (OPS) from

palm oil industry has been used as aggregates in concrete. Besides that the fly ash

from coal power plants has been used as mineral admixture in concrete (Mannan,

2002).

Many researches are also conducted by scientist and engineers to determine

the effect of application of these industrial by-products on the physical and

mechanical properties of concrete.

2

This lightweight concrete plays an important role in modern construction.

Lightweight concrete offers design flexibility, less dead load, longer span, lower

foundation cost. It is also reduce the transportation and placement cost due to the

light-weight advantage. Moreover, it solves weight and durability problems in

building, therefore many contractors, engineers, and architects started to use it in

many construction purpose (Kenneth, 2014). Research regarding this type of

concrete is still carried out by many scientist and engineer all over the world, in order

to further improve the properties of this oil palm concrete for other advanced usage.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Oil palm industry has contributed a lot in our country economy. However, it

is also produces plenty of agricultural wastes during the extraction of palm oil in the

palm oil mills, such as oil palm fibre and shell (Kim, 2010). If these oil palm by-

products are treated improperly, it will become solid wastes in landfills or even

disposed of through incineration and will pollute the environment. Recycle these oil

palm fibre and use as aggregate in concrete can solve the problem of wasting and

disposing of these agricultural by-product (Corinaldesi, 2011). Indirectly reduce the

pollution to the environment and preferably reduce the cost of construction material.

Therefore, the study of the application of oil palm fibre into the manufacturing of

concrete should be carried out in order to produce an environmental friendly, low

cost and lightweight oil palm fibre concrete.

3

1.3 OBJECTIVE

a) To apply oil palm fiber (OPF) and fly ash as the ingredients of concrete,

in order to recycle and reduce these industrials by-products from

becoming solid waste.

b) To determine the effect of OPF and fly ash on the physical and

mechanical properties of concrete.

c) To determine an optimum composition of OPF concrete among the OPF

concrete specimens.

1.4 SCOPE

This project will cover the application of oil palm fiber as aggregates and fly

ash as additive in the oil palm fiber concrete. Besides that, the procedure in making

of oil palm fiber concrete will be stated. Specimens with different percentage of

composition of cement, sand, oil palm fiber, fly ash and water will be prepared. After

that, density measurement, water absorption test, microstructural analysis,

compression test, and splitting tensile test will be carried out to study the physical

and mechanical properties of concrete specimens. In the end, an optimum

composition of oil palm fiber concrete will be determined.

4

1.5 SIGNIFICANT OF STUDY

To study the application of oil palm fiber and fly ash on the concrete in order

to produce a useful oil palm concrete as well as reducing industrials by-products.

Procedure in making of concrete is studied as to prepare and obtain good concrete

specimens for testing. Furthermore, the properties of oil palm fiber concrete are

investigated by several testing accordance to American Standard Testing of Materials

(ASTM) standard, in order to get a better testing result. Densimeter, Dino Lite

miscroscope and Instron machine are used for conducting the tests. In the end, an

optimum composition of oil palm fiber concrete is obtained.

5

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION TO OIL PALM FIBER

Oil palm fiber is extracted from the oil palm tree. It is natural and bio-

degradable, thus it is environmental friendly. Besides that, it is non-toxic and non-

carcinogenic hence it is safe to use. Furthermore, it is low in moisture content and

contains lignin that act as binder in compressed materials, thus it can be used for

other purpose, for instance used as aggregates in concrete.

Oil palm fiber can be classified into oil palm trunk fiber (OPTF), empty fruit

bunch (EFB) fiber, shredded EFB fiber and mesocarp fiber.

EFB fiber is extracted from oil palm’s vascular bundles in the empty fruit

bunch of palm tree. After the fresh fruit bunch has been processed for producing of

palm oil, the remaining EFB is treated as by-product. However EFB fiber possesses

high carbon and therefore, it is often recycled to make high porosity carbon and

molecular sieve carbon for gas filtration propose (H. C. Trading, 2009).

Shredded fiber is produced by cutting the EFB fiber into smaller pieces and

loose structure. Hence shredded fiber has height volume-weight ratio (H. C. Trading,

2009) compare to EFB fiber and this can enhance the bio-fuel characteristic.

Shredded fiber possesses low chlorine content thus it is safe and had used as a

sustainable bio-fuel resource to replace coal and petroleum.

6

Mesocarp fiber is an elongated cellulose fiber and shorter than shredded EFB

fiber. After palm oil extraction, this fiber is separated from palm kernel nut by

cyclone separator. In the market, it is used as mattress fiber or bio-mass material.

This fiber can also be used as filler for reinforce composite.

Oil palm trunk fiber (OPTF) is also one of the palm fibers which possess high

tensile strength, high density and high content of lignin as in Table 2.1. Thus, it is

often used as concrete reinforcement to enhance the strength of conventional

concrete. Based on an experimental research, by adding 1 % of OPTF into concrete,

durability of the concrete is improved against sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium

chloride (NaCI) attack. In addition, by adding 3 % of OPTF, concrete has a good

resistance against the attack of hydrochloric acid (Ahmad, 2010).

Table 2.1: Properties of Oil Palm Trunk Fiber.

Properties Values

Bulk density 1100 kgm-3

Tensile Strength 300 – 600 N/mm2

Modulus of Elasticity 15-32 GPa

Lignin 23.02

(Source: Ahmad, (2010))

Oil palm shell (OPS) from the kernel nut is also one of the by-products after

the palm oil extraction process. It possesses high calorific value, high grade solid, but

low sulfur and ash contents. Furthermore, OPS is light, thus many researches had

carried out the investigation on OPS in lightweight concrete application. A

researches shown after 28 days curing process, the air-dry density of OPS concrete

was about 20 % less dense or lightweight than conventional concrete (Basri, 1998).

In the conclusion, oil palm fiber and shell which are going to dispose should

be recycled for sustainable development as well as cost-saving. In recent years, many

researchers have studied regarding the application of oil palm fiber. They tried to

apply it to replace those non-renewable sources of construction material.

7

2.2 INTRODUCTION TO CONCRETE

Concrete is a combination of cement, aggregates, admixture and water into a

mix. Before dry and harden, it is fresh concrete, undergo hydration it become

hardened concrete. Typical type of cement use in concrete is Portland cement.

Coarse aggregate usually is stone aggregate or natural fibers, while fine aggregate

usually is sand. Admixture acts as a binder for the concrete mix such as fly ash and

silica fume. Furthermore, many materials are recycled and used as the ingredients of

concrete, such as natural fibers from farm and fly ash from coal power plants.

Concrete is versatile, it has many functions and widely use in farm and other

agriculture enterprises. This is because concrete is strong, fire-resistance, insect and

rodent proof, decay resistant, highly storm resistant, wear resistant, waterproof.

Besides that, maintenance cost for a concrete construction is low (Herren, 2010).

The strength and durability of concrete depend on many factors, such as: the

composition and proportions of the materials, the water-cement ratio of fresh

concrete, the strength and proportion of aggregates by size, the type of cement used,

the uniformity of the mixture, and the method or process of the preparation of

concrete.

The precision in mixing all the ingredients of concrete is important, because

the proportions of ingredients will influence the properties of the concrete. For an

accurate mixture, each particle of aggregates is covered with cement paste and bound

to each other when cement paste dries and hardens. For a superior concrete,

aggregates of different sizes should fit together to form a fairly solid mass. The

aggregates must be clean and free of clay and silt. This is because the tiny sizes of

clay and silt will influence the function of aggregate in concrete mix. Therefore, the

sand use to make concrete is usually the washed sand that has been flushed with

water and free of clay and silt (Herren, 2010).

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THE APPLICATION OF OIL PALM FIBER ON CONCRETE STRUCTURE ...eprints.utem.edu.my/16639/1/The Application Of Oil Palm Fiber On... · konkrit. Tambahan pula, ujian mampatan dan ujian