Influence of Natural Fiber Derived from Agricultural Waste on Durability and Micro-Morphological Analysis of High-Strength Concrete

This research focuses on the investigation of durability behavior and microstructural analysis for M70 grade of high-strength concrete (HSC) with the influence of alccofine, banana fiber (BF), and coir fiber (CF). In this investigation, cement was partly supplanted by 15% of alccofine content in weight. Two types of natural fibers, banana and coir fibers, were selected and added in concrete at 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, and 2% by volume. Durability characteristics, such as long-term compressive performance, rapid chloride penetration, sorptivity, water absorption, volume of permeable voids, and acid attack resistance are investigated elaborately and correlate with conventional HSC. Results showed that the incorporation of banana and coir fibers with alccofine in HSC exhibited good durability performance as correlated with conventional HSC. At 180 days of curing, incorporating 1% of banana fiber increased the durability performance compared to reference HSC. Nonetheless, the high-fiber percentage of HSC has a slight reduction in durability characteristics. Among the two types of fibers, the banana fiber showed the most significant improvement in the durability properties of HSC. The influence of natural fiber on the microstructural characteristics of HSC was evaluated using scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) to substantiate the experimental findings. In contrast, using additional supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in HSC fabrication significantly reduces cement usage and carbon emissions.