Behavior of High Strength Concrete Containing Rice Husk Ash (RHA) and Superplasticizer

Rice-husk is a waste product that cause pollution aud disposal
problem. Rice-husk ash however has been acknowledged as a natural pozzolan
that cau contribute in concrete industry with its high silica contain aud easily
obtained with very low cost. This paper presents the results of au experimental
investigation regarding the effect of microwave incinerated rice-husk ash
(MIRRA) into the mix of high strength concrete, in which the source of ricehusk
is from BERNAS rice paddy milling industry in Malaysia. Five trial mix
proportion containing MIRRA were design and cast into cubes, cylinders and
slabs in the laboratory aud the strength development of the hardened concrete
investigated. From the observation, MIRRA accelerate the hydration process
aud provide the cube with high compressive strength capability at early age
(i.e 3 day). This is due to high silica contain in the MIRRA which is proved
by the XRD test at SIRIM facilities. The investigation showed that it is
possible to cast concrete with strength above 70MPa by using locally available
rice-husk. It cau be concluded that MIRRA provides high compressive
strength at early age and the contribution of MIRRA is similar to silica fume.