Effect of treatments on properties of cement-fiber bricks utilizing rice husk, corncob and coconut Coir

In line with Malaysia government environmental policy and encouraging of utilizing sustainable materials such as those from natural resources in order to reduce the detrimental effect of synthetic materials on the environment, it has brought a challenge to investigate how it can be achieved by benefiting the agricultural wastes into useful products. In this study, bricks are prepared from rice husk (RH), corncob (CB) and coconut coir (CC). Gelatin-hexamine, (G. HEX) linseed oil (L.OIL) and sodium metasilicate-aluminum sulphate (AL-SM) are used to modify the fibers prior to bricks fabrication in order to improve their dewatering behavior and enhance the cement-fiber bonding. After subjected to 28 days of hydration period at room temperature, the bricks were characterized through static bending, parallel compression and water absorption (WA). Results indicate that brick of linseed oil treated fiber provided an improvement in the brick's properties. Coconut coir brick (CCB) shows the highest compressive and flexural strength and lowest WA follow by rice husk brick (RHB) and corncob brick (CBB). It is demonstrated that the concept of green composite bricks for sustainable infrastructures is feasible, although an extensive amount of research remains ahead. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.