Utilizing wood wastes as reinforcement in wood cement composite bricks

Abstract

This paper presents the research work undertaken to study the properties of Wood Cement Composite Bricks (WCCB) from different wood wastes and cement / wood content. The WCBBs with nominal density of 1200 kg m-3 were produced from three tropical wood species and at varying cement and wood content of 2:1, 2.5:1 and 3:1 on a weight to weight basis. The properties evaluated were compressive strength, Ultra Pulse Velocity (UPV), water absorption (WA) and thickness swelling (TS). The Compressive strength values ranged from 0.25 to 1.13 N mm-2 and UPV values ranged from 18753 to 49992 m s-1. The mean values of WA after 672 hours (28 days) of water soaking of the WCCBs ranged from 9.50% to 47.13% where there were no noticeable change in the TS of the bricks. The observed density (OD) ranged from 627 to 1159 kg m-3. A. zygia from the three wood/cement content were more dimensionally stable and better in compressive strength than the other two species where T. scleroxylon had the best performance in terms of UPV. All the properties improved with increasing cement content. WCCBs at 3.0:1 cement/wood content are suitable for structural application such as panelling, ceiling and partitioning

Keywords

• Tropical wood species
• portland cement
• composite bricks
• UPV