Thermal Resistance Evaluation of Raffia Palm Ash Concrete

U.N Wilson,I.S Mohammed,A.A Adefila,J.E Sani

doi:10.4314/jasem.v25i3.23

Abstract

T: This research attempts to empirically investigate the behavior of Raffia Palm Ash (RPA) concrete under elevated temperature of different percentages of RPA inclusion in the concrete. Raffia palm ash was obtained after the calcination of the raffia palm for 3 hours at 5500C. X-ray Florescence (XRF) analysis performed revealed that the sample of Raffia Palm Ash (RPA) is a Class C pozzolana, which contains 51.8% of (SiO2 + Al2O3 + Fe2O3) and has a specific gravity of 2.8. The compressive strengths were determined at 0 0C, 718 0C and 821 0C at 0 minutes, 15 minutes and 30 minutes respectively. The result revealed that workability of the concrete declined with the increment in the percentage of raffia palm ash in the concrete. The compressive strength of the concrete cubes as well decreased with the rise in temperature for the entire samples tested. The average loss in strength of the control (0% RPA) is about 15.3% at 7180Cand 25.3% at 8120C while for Raffia palm ash concrete with 5% (optimum replacement) gives a minimum loss in strength of about 21.3% at 7180C and 28.5% at 8120C, which is about 6% at 7180C and 13.2% at 8120C, more than the control. The Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM) imaging indicates that the concrete subjected to temperature of about 821oC produces fewer flakes when compared to the concrete subjected to temperature of about 7180C. Keywords: Compressive strength, Raffia Palm Ash (RPA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Thermal resistance, X-ray Florescence (XRF)

Highlights

Concrete which is one of the man-made materials on earth is the most widely used in construction industries
The materials used for the research include the following: Raffia Palm Ash (RPA): The Raffia palm was collected from a farmland
Preliminary Tests on RPA, Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and Aggregate: The preliminary tests carried out include X-ray Florescence (XRF) analysis, specific gravity, and consistency, setting time, fineness, particle size distribution and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

Summary

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The materials used for the research include the following: Raffia Palm Ash (RPA): The Raffia palm was collected from a farmland. The leafs were removed and the fibre was calcined to ashes at a temperature of 5500C in a muffle furnace at the laboratory of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, Kwara State. Slump test was carried out on the fresh concrete to obtain the workability of the concrete in conformity to BS EN 12350-2 (2009) after which the concrete cubes were cured for 28 days. Afterwards, they were subjected to electric furnace at the mechanical engineering workshop of the Nigerian Defence Academy Kaduna, Nigeria. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis of the crushed cube for control and optimum replacement was carried out in the laboratory of the Chemical Engineering Department, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Result

SUMMARY

Conclusion