Split tensile and flexural strength of concrete with artificial lightweight aggregate (ALWA) and steel-fiber

Abstract

In this study, ALWA made from Styrofoam. Styrofoam is reprocessed by adding acetone solution. The use of acetone is to form styrofoam into harder grains so that it resembles coarse aggregates so that they can be used as substitutes for coarse aggregates in concrete mixtures. Hooked type steel fibers are also used as additives in this study. Steel fibers used are 0%, 0.75% and 1.5% of volume concrete while for the composition of ALWA Styrofoam were 0%, 15%, 50% and 100% for split tensile strength testing, respectively. Concrete composition for flexural strength testing is the optimum composition of the tensile strength test results. The results showed concrete with a mixture of 15% ALWA Styrofoam and 1.5% steel fiber was able to produce optimum split tensile strength, the most optimum tensile strength testing of 5.29 MPa and for the flexural strength test results of 9.47 MPa at maximum load. Addition of steel fibers with a mixture of ALWA Styrofoam is able to make concrete to be more resistant to cracking and more ductile.