Reinforcing of Earth Soil and Cement with Pretreated Cornhusk Fibers in the Development of Building Materials

Abstract

The modern construction industry in Sri Lanka focuses on introducing environment friendly and long durable sustainable materials in constructions. Modern trend is producing different types of earth soil-based building blocks and innovating modified daub mixture-based structures. However, surface cracking and damage due to flood are the major issues that are faced in some soil-based structures. The use of cellulose fiber as a reinforcement material has many advantages such as providing adequate stiffness, strength, and bonding capacity to cement-based matrices for substantial enhancement of their flexural strength. The aim of present study was to find out the possibility of using Alkaline Hydrogen Peroxide (AHP)-pretreated cornhusk fibers as a reinforcement material to prepare soil and cement-based composite mixture for development of roofing sheets, ceiling sheets, and wall panels. The AHP pretreatment is an effective pretreatment that could be performed at room temperature and under atmospheric pressure for extracting cellulose from agro plant residue like cornhusks. Cornhusks is comparatively one of freely available agro plant residues in Sri Lanka and with required chemical composition, from which cellulose could be extracted easily from AHP pretreatment. The selected earth soil was laterite and has dark reddish color. The composite mixture was prepared by mixing of earth soil, cement, and AHP-pretreated cornhusks fibers in the weight ratios of 1:1:0.025 of, respectively, with a certain amount of water. Roofing sheets, ceiling sheets, and wall panels were prepared using the said composite mixture and were analyzed for morphological characteristics, water absorbency, flexural load, and durability. The developed composite samples have reddish to brownish color. The water absorbency, flexural load, and durability were of satisfactory level. These can be used in construction of low cost attractive and environment friendly architectural constructions especially in areas where tourists frequent in Sri Lanka.