Strength and Acoustics Properties of Lightweight Foamed Concrete Incorporating of Bio-Based Aggregate

Abstract

This paper investigates the incorporation of bio-based aggregate in lightweight foam concrete (LWFC). The aim of this research is to determine the strength and acoustics properties of lightweight foamed concrete incorporating 5% bio-based aggregate (LWFC-OPS5). A targeted density of 1100 +/- 100 kg/m3 of LWFC-OPS5 is produced and achieved a compressive strength of 3 MPa. A total of six mixes containing different water to cement (w/c) ratios 0.52, 0.56 and 0.60 with 0% and 5% of OPS replacement were designed. From the result, LWFC-OPS5-0.52 had showed the highest strength properties at 28 days, which are recorded at 3.59 MPa and 1.75 MPa respectively. It also showed the highest density among the LWFC-OPS5 mix design which is 1180 kg/m3 under fresh density conditions. LWFC-OPS5-0.56 has showed the most significant increase in compressive strength and flexural strength at 28 days, which have an increment of 30 - 40% from 7 days’ results. On the other hand, LWFC-OPS5-0.60 has increased about 36.81%, 32.73% and 63.83% compared to LWFC-CTR. All cube specimens have achieved above 3 MPa of compressive strength except LWFC-OPS5-0.60 due to its lowest fresh density. From the acoustics properties test results, LWFC-OPS5-0.56 had showed the maximum sound absorption coefficient. Thus, this research proved that LWFC-OPS5 can be used for different applications such as wall panels, roof tiles, sound barriers and etc.