Abstract

Rice husk Ash (produced by traditional burning called RHA and by using microwave incinerator called MIRHA) has shown promise as a cement replacement material. This study investigated the properties of RHA and MIRHA mortar used for brick manufacture at binder sand proportions of 1:3 and 1:4. RHA and MIRHA were intermediate in particle size to cement and sand particles. Percentages of replacement were 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30%, respectively. Strength at w/c ratios (0.5, 0.55, 0.6 and 0.65, respectively) was investigated to identify optimum w/c ratios as well as optimum percent replacement of RHA and MIRHA. Variations of IRS, density and water absorption were investigated. Generally 1:3 RHA and 1:3 MIRHA mortars strength showed decreasing trend with increasing percentage replacement with RHA and MIRHA. Whereas 1:4 RHA and 1:4 MIRHA mortars showed increase in strength at 5% replacement and decrease thereafter. IRS values for RHA mortars are generally within limits (0.25-1.5 kg/m2.min) recommended. Water absorption values of RHA mortars are generally higher than control mortar. IRS values for MIRHA mortars with w/c 0.5 and 0.55 ranged between 1.4-2.0 kg/m2.min; indicating the need for wetting the bricks before use. IRS values for 1:3 MIRHA mortars with w/c 0.6 and 0.65 were below 1.0 kg/m2.min indicating low suction values. For 1:4 MIRHA mortars, IRS values were very low in all cases. Water absorption values of MIRHA mortars are generally higher than the control mortar. MIRHA mortars with w/c 0.6 and 0.65 showed low percentages of water absorption.

Keywords:

Cement replacement material, density, initial rate of suction, microwave incinerated rice husk ask, mortar brick, strength, water absorption,

References

1. Abdelalim, A., G.E. Abdelaziz and R. Zahran, 2002. Fresh and mechanical properties of the cementitious materials containing rice husk ash. Eng. Res. J., 84: 15-28.
   
2. Ali, Z.A., 2005. Properties of Malaysian fired clay bricks and their evaluation with international masonry specifications: A case study. M.A. Thesis, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia.
   
3. Alias, M.N.B., 2011. Effects of mix composition on Microwave Incinerated Rice Husk Ash (MIRHA) mortar. UG Thesis, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia.
   
4. Alireza, N.G., A.R. Suraya, A.A. Farah and M.S. Amran, 2010. Contribution of rice husk ash to the properties of mortar and concrete: A review. J. Am. Sci., 6(3): 157-165.
   
5. Anwar, A., 2011. Parametric study on effects of water-cement ratio to compressive strength of RHA mortar. Undergraduate Thesis, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia.
   
6. ASTM C642, 1997. Standard Test Method for Density, Absorption and Voids in Hardened Concrete. Annual Books of ASTM Standards, Vol. 04.02, American Society for Testing and Materials. West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, pp: 308-309.
   
7. ASTM C1585, 2004. Standard Test Method for Measurement of Rate of Absorption of Water by Hydraulic-Cement Concretes. American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, PA.
   
8. BS 3921, 1985. Specification for Clay Bricks. British Standards Institution. Retrieved from: shop. bsigroup.com/ProductDetail/?pid = 000000000000 148616.
   Direct Link
9. BS 6073, 1981. Specification for Precast Concrete Masonry Units. British Standards Institution. Retrieved from: shop.bsigroup.com/Product Detail/?pid=000000000030100694.
   Direct Link
10. BS 6717, 2001. Precast, Unreinforced Concrete Paving Blocks. Requirements and Test Methods. Retrieved from:shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail/?pid = 00 0000000030028594?.
    Direct Link
11. Chindraprasirt, P., C. Jaturapitakkul and T. Sinsiri, 2005. Effect of fly ash fineness on compressive strength and pore size of blended cement paste. Cement Concrete. Comp., 27(4): 425-428.
    
12. Drysdale, R.G., A.A. Hamid and L.R. Baker, 1994. Masonry Structures Behaviour and Design. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
    PMCid:PMC358659    
13. Haron, M.F.B., 2011. Effects of mix composition on Rice Husk Ash (RHA) mortar. UG Thesis, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia.
    
14. International Rice Research Institute, (FAO) 2008. (Accessed on: June 29, 2011).
    Direct Link
15. Ismail, M.S. and A.M. Waliuddin, 1996. Effect of rice husk ash on high strength concrete. Constr. Build. Mater., 10(7): 521-526.
    CrossRef    
16. Jha, J.N. and K.S. Gill, 2006. Effect of rice husk ash on lime stabilization. J. Inst. Eng., 87: 33-39.
    
17. Malhotra, V.M., 1993. Fly ash, slag, silica fume and rice husk ash in concrete: A review. Concrete Int., 15(4): 23-28.
    
18. Mehta, P.K., 1992. Rice husk ash: A unique supplementary cementing material. Proceedings of the CANMET/ACI International Symposium on Advances in Concrete Tech. Athens, Greece, pp: 407-430.
    
19. Mehta, P.K., 2002. Method for Producing a Blended Cementitious Composition. U.S. Patent 6451104 B2.
    Direct Link
20. Nagataki, S., 1994. Mineral admixtures in concrete: State of the art and trends. Proceeding of the V. Mohan Malhotra Symposium on Concrete Technology: Past, Present and Future. ACI SP-144, ACI, Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA, pp: 447-482.
    
21. Naji Givi, A., A.R. Suraya, N.A.A. Farahand M.A. Mohd Salleh, 2010. Contribution of rice husk ash to the properties of mortar and concrete: A review. J. Am. Sci., 6(3): 157-165.
    
22. Nehdi, M., J. Duquette and A.E. Damatty, 2003. Performance of rice husk ash produced using a new technology as a mineral admixture in concrete. Cement Concrete Res., 33(8): 1203-1210.
    CrossRef    
23. Nuruddin, M.F., N. Shafiq and N.L. Mohd Kamal, 2008. Microwave Incinerated Rice Husk Ash (MIRHA) concrete: A new material in concrete industry. Proceeding of the UK Malaysia Engineering Conference 2008. UTP Institutional Repository.
    
24. Pitt, N., 1976. Process for Preparation of Siliceous Ashes. U.S. Patent 3959007.
    
25. Rashid, M.H., M.K. Ali Molla and T.U. Ahmed, 2010a. Long term effect of rice husk ash on strength of mortar. World Econ. Sci. Eng. Tech., 67: 740-743.
    
26. Rodriguez, G.S., 2006. Strength development of concrete with rice-husk ash. Cement Concrete Comp., 28(2): 158-160.
    CrossRef    
27. Rukzon, S. and P. Chindarprasirt, 2006. Strength of ternary blended cement mortar containing Portland cement, rice husk ash and fly ash. J. Eng. Inst. Thailand, 17: 33.
    
28. Saraswathy, V. and S. Ha-Won, 2007. Corrosion performance of rice husk ash blended concrete. Constr. Build. Mater., 21(8): 1779-1784.
    CrossRef    
29. Schulze, J., 1999. Influence of water-cement ratio and cement content on the properties of polymer-modified mortars. Cement Concrete Res., 29: 909-915.
    CrossRef    
30. Singh, B., 2007. Concrete block pavements for roads. Build. Mater. Constr. World, 13(3): 170-177.
    
31. Sumrerng, R., P. Chindarprasirt and R. Mahachai, 2009. Effect of grinding on chemical and physical properties of rice husk ash. Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 116(2): 242-247.
    
32. Sung-Sik, P., 2010. Effect of wetting on unconfined compressive strength of cemented sands. J. Geotech. Geoenviron., 136(12): 1713-1720.
    CrossRef    
33. Tashima, M.M., C.A.R. Silva, J.L. Akasaki and M.B. Barbosa, 2004. The possibility of adding the Rice Husk Ash (RHA) to the concrete. Proceedings of the 2004 International RILEM Conference on the Use of Recycled Materials in Building and Structures, pp: 778-786.
    
34. Ungsongkhun, T., V. Greepala and P. Nimityongskul, 2009. The effects of the curing technique on the compressive strength of autoclaved aerated mortar. Proceeding of the International Conference on Excellence in Concrete Construction Through Innovation and Concrete Construction. Bangkok, Thailand, pp: 57-62.
    
35. Wan, S., K. Vallyutham, M.S. Liew and S.P. Narayanan, 2011. The Effects of Partial Replacement of Cement by MIRHA in Cement Mortar and Brick, Ravage of Planet 3. Management of Natural Resources, Sustainable Development and Ecological Hazards, WIT Press. ISBN: 978-1-84564-532-8.
    
36. Yusoff, M.F., 2010. Parametric study on effects of water cement ratio to compressive strength of MIRHA mortar. UG Thesis, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia.
    
37. Zhang, M.H. and V.M. Malhotra, 1996. High-performance concrete incorporating rice husk ash as a supplementary cementing materials. ACI Mater. J., 93(6): 629-636.
    
38. Zhang, M.H., R. Lastra and V.M. Malhotra, 1996. Rice-husk ash paste and concrete: Some aspects of hydration and the microstructure of the interfacial zone between aggregate and paste. Cement Concrete Res., 26(6): 963-977.
    CrossRef    

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Open Access Policy

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.