Comparative Study on Addition of Saw Dust Ash and Polypropylene Fibres to Concrete Using Destructive and Non Destructive Tests

Abstract

— Construction industry is one of the rapidly growing industries in the world. In this industry, concrete plays
an important role and it is the most widely used man made construction material. Concrete consumes large quantities of
natural resources. As per the present scenario, it is known that natural resources are depleting worldwide while at the
same time the generated wastes from the industry are increasing substantially. So for the sustainable development of
construction industry, methods like use of non-conventional innovative materials and recycling of waste materials should
be adopted. Concrete is weak in tension, has limited ductility and little resistance to cracking. This provided the
motivation for exploring the benefits of saw dust ash (SDA) as a replacement material and the addition of polypropylene
fibres. Sawdust is one of the major underutilized by-products from saw milling operations. The implementation of waste
sawdust can not only decrease environmental damage, but also can save the concrete materials. Saw dust ash can be
used in light weight concrete that has already received attention over the past years. To strengthen the SDA concrete and
making it more durable polypropylene fibre is being added. Polypropylene is a synthetic hydrocarbon polymer, the fiber
of which is made using extrusion processes by hot drawing the material through a die. Polypropylene fibres may be
effective in distributing impact stresses and providing some enhancement to frost resistance. In this paper cement has
been partially replaced with SDA by its weight such as 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10% and 12.5% in M25 grade concrete along
with polypropylene fibres. Results showed that maximum increase in the compressive strength observed was 7.5% from
both destructive and non destructive tests along with 1.2% of fibre content.