Effectiveness of palm oil fuel ash as micro-filler in polymer concrete

Abstract

This paper presents the potential of utilizing an agricultural waste known as palm oil fuel ash (POFA) as micro-filler in polymer concrete (PC). Being a plant with open cellulose structure, such potential has gone untapped due to its tendency to take up excessive resin during the mixing process. This study has invested its filler characterization by first segregating the POFA fillers into fine (ground POFA, GPOFA) and coarse (unground POFA, UPOFA) fillers. GPOFA was paired with calcium carbonate while UPOFA was with silica sand for comparisons. Filler characteristics were studied under microstructural examination; particle size analyzer and morphology. Twenty design mixes of polymer blended and polymer concrete were casted for flowability and compression tests, respectively. Further investigations were carried out after two categories of fillers were incorporated with different filler contents. Test data showed that filler had changed its physical features significantly after surface modification. Also, the finer fillers gave superior filling ability and compressive strength. This study concluded that POFA can be potentially transformed into effective PC filler following some physical modifications and mixing with the appropriate design mix.