Impact of Varying Laterite and Cowhorn Additives on The Mechanical Properties of Cement Matrix Plastic Tiles

Abstract

The transition to sustainability to meet human needs through the use of animal waste obtained from anthropogenic activities has become a subject of global importance in recent times because of its ability to preserve our environmental life support systems. This work focused on utilizing laterite and cow horn as additives in cement matrix-plastic tile production. The quantity of cement, sand and plastic used for the production was kept constant while laterite and pulverized cowhorn was varied. Produced sample dimensions were 15 mm thickness with face measurement of 150 x 150 mm. Laterite was thoroughly mixed with sand, plastic, cowhorn and cement with a known volume of water in a clean container. The resulting mixture was subjected to a compaction pressure of 25KN to obtain a cohesive material and then fired in an oven at 2200C for thirty-three minutes. After firing the sample was allowed to cool down and then subject to physico-mechanical tests. The results obtained showed that on the flexural and compressive strength of the sample containing 45% laterite and no cowhorn had best values of 11.38mpa and 0.0037Mp respectively. The water absorption and shrinkage test for the 45% laterite no cowhorn sample with 15% pulverized cowhorn and 30% laterite was the most porous. In conclusion, increasing the cowhorn content had a direct relationship with the degree of porosity, flexural and compressive strength.