Compressive Strength of Light-Weight Concrete Material Made from Treated Wood Waste as a Coarse Aggregate

Abstract

The effect of replacing the conventional coarse aggregate with wood shavings was evaluated relative to the 28-day compressive strength of the concrete. Six groups were studied: group-1 represented the normal concrete (NC-CTRL1), group-2 (TW-CTRL2) comprised the specimens that had the replacement of the coarse aggregate with raw wood shavings, group-3, group-4, group-5, and group 6 represented the specimens that had the coarse aggregate as coated (treated) wood shavings with cement paste (group-3 and -4) and with tile adhesive paste (group-5 and -6), with and without the effect of the emulsifier, respectively. The density of the TW-CTRL2 concrete was 31.4% lighter than NC-CTRL1. However, the compressive strength of TW-CTRL2 was 75% of the NC-CTRL1, but within the acceptable limits stated in ASTM standards. The findings of this study showed a potential to use the produced concrete as concrete masonry unit when compared with the values reported in previous studies. Compared with TW-CTRL2, the compressive strength increased 45% and 20% for the coated wood shavings with cement and tile adhesive pastes, respectively. The effect of using the emulsifier in the coating process of the wood shavings increased the compressive strength by 20%, and reduced the voids of the concrete by 3%.