Physico-mechanical characterisation of construction materials based on agro-sourced particles: Hemp concrete

Abstract

The study reported in this paper was undertaken to investigate the feasibility of lightweight construction materials, based on vegetable particles. The developed material consists of reference mortar containing different levels of hemp particles as partial replacement of sand in mixture by volume at: 0% (MR), 50%, and 100%. The binder nature has been selected based on the results obtained of chemical compatibility evaluation that highlight the reduction in inhibitory effect exerted by particles on cement hydration. The objective of this work is to evaluate the physico-mechanical properties, through the examination of materials lightning, mechanical strengths (compressive/flexural), and the elasticity behavior of the material at different volume rates of hemp particles. The influence of the direction after casting the material, according to the parallel (//) and perpendicular (?) orientations, with respect to the direction of the stress has been examined. Test-results have shown that despite a significant reduction in mechanical properties, the material exhibits higher residual stress that highlight a ductile behaviour, compared to the reference material. Results also indicated that the perpendicular (?) casting direction leads to exhibit higher mechanical properties, compared to the parallel state.