Characterization study on coconut shell concrete with partial replacement of cement by GGBS

Abstract

Increasing demand and depletion of natural resources has brought a need for the replacement of conventional concrete. This study is conducted by completely replacing coarse aggregate with coconut shell (CS) an agricultural waste. Though it achieves the target strength the decrease in quality of coconut shell concrete (CSC) is enhanced by utilizing a pozzolanic material Ground Granulated Blast-furnace Slag (GGBS) and its optimum percentage of replacement with cement is found as 10% by conducting compressive strength for varying percentage of replacement say 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. For the optimum mix, the durability study and microstructural investigation, say SEM, XRD, EDX, FTIR, and IMM was examined. The result revealed that incorporating GGBS increases the strength of concrete to around 15%. The microstructural study has clearly exhibits that the hydration process has been improved to better formation of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C–S–H) and Calcium Aluminium Silicate Hydrate (C-A-S-H) when GGBS is incorporated.