Mechanical Properties of Rice Husk Ash Based Concrete Composites

The production of rice is important all over the world. The husk that is made is usually used as a combustible material to prepare fields, giving energy through both direct combustion and gasification. The material rice husk ash may be quite fine. A common particle size for rice husk ash is 3 to 75 mu m. This research demonstrates how the rice husk ash affects the mechanical properties of concrete composites. For this purpose, five different concrete mixes were used in this experimental program. All the concrete mixes were prepared by using rice husk ash as percentage replacement of cement. M30 grade of concrete was prepared with 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 percent replacement of cement with rice husk ash. Fresh samples of various concrete mixtures were tested to determine the slump and mechanical properties of concrete. The compressive strength, split tensile and flexural strength of hardened samples were tested after 7, 28 and 56 days of curing. The results of the experimental observations showed that using RHA based concrete mixes increase the compressive, split tensile and flexural strength of concrete composites. The optimum utilization of rice husk ash was 20 percent. Additionally, the addition of RHA to concrete lowers the total amount of carbon that is embodied in the material, decreases costs, and makes use of agricultural waste.