A Study of The Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) with Microwave Incinerator Rice Husk Ash (MIRHA)

Concrete in its simplest explanation is a composite construction material made from the
combination of aggregates admixtures and cementitious binder. Various types of concrete
have been developed for special application and the most common ones are plain
concrete, steel fibre concrete, self-compacting concrete and asphalt concrete. It is now
well established that one of the important properties of Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete
(SFRC) is its superior resistance to cracking and crack propagation. As a result of this
ability to arrest cracks, fibre composites possess increased extensibility and tensile
strength, both at first crack and at ultimate, and the fibres are able to hold the matrix
together even after extensive cracking
This research provides an insight on the effects of steel fibre and Microwave Incinerator
Rice Hush Ash (MIRHA) to concrete properties. Concrete is a material which has high
compressive strength. However, the tensile strength is estimated to be only 10 per cent of
the compressive strength. Basically, there are three main tests performed in this study to
determine the properties of the concrete, which are Compressive Test, Splitting Tensile
Test and Porosity Test. The tests are done at 3rd day, 7th day, 28th day and 56th days
with different grade of concrete (G25, G50 & G70) with different percentage of steel
fibre (0%, 0.3% 0.5% and 0.8%) and 5% of MIRHA inclusions.
The test results indicate the improvement on compressive strength and tensile strength of
concrete in presence of steel fibre and MIRHA. Visual observations also revealed the
improvement on crack pattern of concrete after introducing the steel fibre. This research
also found the optimum proportion of steel fibre was 0.5%, which gave the highest
improvement of tensile strength (about 40%). The improvement of compressive strength
(about 20%) occurred after introducing the 5% of MIRHA to concrete. The most
significant improvement of concrete properties was observed at concrete Grade 25.