Experimental Study on Papercrete Blocks with Plastic Fiber Reinforcement

Abstract

Recent developments necessitates the use of low-cost, light weight and environmental friendly construction materials in building industry for which investigation on the alternative materials like papercrete blocks is the need of the day. Considering the world as a whole, a huge amount of paper waste is generated daily which causes serious environmental consequences. As a major part of the construction cost of a building goes to procurement of building materials, even a small reduction in cost of building materials can cause a big difference in project cost. In this study, experiments were done to analyse the suitability of papercrete blocks as a building material, based on their water absorption and compressive strength. These alternative blocks were made with different combinations of paper pulp, fly ash, M-sand with borax, plastic fibers and water proofing admixtures. The papercrete blocks were prepared and tested. The mix which gave reasonable strength and least water absorption is selected. Although this area requires significant amount of research, it is beyond doubt that papercrete can ideally be used for construction of low cost, non-load bearing structures especially in earthquake prone areas.