Compressive and Tensile Strength Characteristics of Bamboo Leaf Ash Blended Cement Concrete

Abstract

One of the most serious problems of the world today is related to removal of waste and to find solution of reusing it. Large volumes of waste are generated worldwide during the production of bamboo. The study determined the effect of calcination temperatures on the chemical and physical properties of bamboo leaf ash (BLA), effects of partial replacement of cement with bamboo leaf ash (BLA) on the compressive and tensile strength of concrete.

A nominal mix of 1:2:4 with water-cement ratio of 0.65 was used as reference, The cement content of the reference was replaced with varying percentages of BLA by weight up to 20 %. A total of 240 cubes were cast, cured in water and tested at ages up to 210 days. The properties investigated were compressive and tensile strengths. The results revealed that the most amorphous BLA that met the minimum requirements for class C pozzolans as specified by ASTMC618-08 was obtained at temperature of 600⁰C.