A STUDY OF MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CEMENT BOARDS MIXED WITH PLANT FIBERS FOR BEING USED AS A BUILDING WALL CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study various physical properties of the cement boards, namely 1) the mechanical properties of the cement board i.e., compressive strength test, bending strength test, material surface perpendicular tensile test and elastic modulus test. By studying the proportion of mixing cement mortar (cement: fine sand), there were 4 formulas of mortar experimental mortar, namely Formula 1 (60: 40), Formula 2 (65: 35), Formula 3 (55: 45) and Formula 4 (40: 60). They were used to test with the compressive strength and found that the first ranked mortar was Formula 2, which had a compressive strength of 609 ksc., with a setting time of 4.35 minutes, the second place was Formula 1, which had a compressive strength of 564 ksc., with a setting time of 3.51 minutes, the third one was the Formula 4, which had a compressive strength of 507 ksc. with a formation stage of 4.04 minutes. 2) the properties of cement board mixed with plant fibers by bringing 4 types of them, spun each type of plant fiber -they are banana tree, cattail, reed and giant mimosa then hang to dry and mixed them with the mortar formula 2, and molded into cement board with the size of 40 x 40 x 2.5 cm. (WxSxD) according to the TIS. 878-2537.  From the test of the properties suitable for use, it was found that No 1 the reed fiber cement board showed the perpendicular tensile strength of 0.19 MPa, the compressive strength of 40.78 kg.: cm², the elastic modulus of 9209 MPa., hygroscopicity of 3.9%, sound absorption reduction of 14.33 db, and passed the fire resistance standard. No 2 the cement mixed with giant mimosa fibers had the perpendicular tensile strength of 0.19 MPa, the compressive strength of 42.52 kg.: cm², elastic modulus of 7312 MPa., hygroscopicity of 4.0%, sound absorption reduction of 14.87 db, and passed the fire resistance standard.