Effect of Palm Oil Fuel Ash Fineness on Packing Effect and Pozzolanic Reaction of Blended Cement Paste

Abstract

This paper presents the effect of particle size of palm oil ash on packing effect and pozzolanic reaction in cement paste. Ground palm oil fuel ash and ground river sand, having high crystalline and insoluble material of 2 different size with median particle size 15±1 and 2±1μm. Portland cement type I was replaced by palm oil fuel ash or ground river sand at 10, 20, 30 and 40 by weight of cementitious materials. The water to binder ratio (W/B) of 0.35 was used for all the blended cement paste mixes. Compressive strength of cement paste, percentage compressive strength due to hydration reaction, percentage compressive strength due to packing effect, percentage compressive strength due to pozzolanic reaction and fractured surface of cement paste were determined. The results showed that the packing effect of palm oil fuel ash cement paste increases with high fineness. Percentage pozzolanic reaction with median particle size smaller than cement was 12-23% at the age of 28 days. Palm oil fuel ash high fineness is good pozzolanic material and it can be used replace Portland cement Type I at the rate of 30% by weight of binder.