ISEC 09


CHARACTERISTICS OF FRESH MIXTURE OF A NOVEL CEMENT-LESS WASTEPAPER-BASED LIGHTWEIGHT BLOCK AND ITS MOLDING PROCESSES

ORIYOMI M. OKEYINKA, DAVID A. OLOKE, JAMAL M. KHATIB


Abstract

Cement-less wastepaper-based lightweight block (CWLB) is an eco-friendly lightweight non-loadbearing block newly developed from majorly waste materials. As part of efforts to enable the understanding of its mixture proportioning and production processes, this study presents the characteristics of its fresh mixture and its peculiar molding process. The fresh mix characteristics studied include; the texture, density, elastic modulus, percentage void/porosity and the peculiar molding process. The laboratory experimentation conducted covers; the preparation of the CWLB mix (from mixture of wastepaper aggregate (WPA), sand, waste additive, natural admixture and water), determination of physical and deformation properties of the mix and the molding of CWLB specimen. It was found that, for the mixes tested, the fresh mixture of CWLB is fibrous in texture, voluminous in nature and exhibits an average loose bulk density of 305.3 kg/m3. Also, average compacted bulk density of 857.6 kg/m3 and 792.38 kg/m3, elastic modulus of 30.28 MPa and 28.38 MPa and percentage void of 77% and 76% (i.e., porosity of 0.77 and 0.76) were recorded for mixes containing 52% and 36% sand content (measured by weight of WPA) respectively. The molding procedure for CWLB was thus found to be slightly different from those available for conventional masonry blocks in terms of relationship between the mold size, mixture quantity and resulting specimen size. These findings therefore indicate the peculiarity of the physical and deformation properties of the fresh mixture of CWLB and the importance of awareness and understanding of same for efficient production of CWLB. Future work will involve the development of suitable numerical expression for determining the in-mold mass requirement for molding a typical CWLB sample and the design of an innovative, undemanding, cost and energy efficient manufacturing kit for CWLB.

Full Text (PDF)