The use of natural fibers in concrete has significantly increased in recent years as a result of the push for sustainable construction. Coconut fibers, also known as coir fibers, have been used as natural fibers in concrete, particularly in some parts of Asia. This paper presents an experimental study that investigates the use of coconut fibers in concrete. Two baseline concrete mix designs were selected based on design standards with a water-cement ratio of 0.4 and 0.5 respectively. For each baseline mix design, four 20 cm x 20 cm x 1 cm concrete plates were constructed by varying the percentage of coconut fibers by weight of cement. The fiber contents studied are 0%, 0.1%, 0.175%, and 0.25%. The concrete plates were then tested to determine the mechanical properties of the coconut fiber-reinforced concrete and comparisons were made with the mix designs with 0% coconut fiber content. The results show that adding coconut fibers increases the flexural strength of concrete plates. This is particularly beneficial for low scale construction applications such as those in concrete tile production. For both mix designs, adding 0.25% of coconut fibers increased the flexural strength of the concrete plates by 90% when compared to concrete with no coconut fibers.
Improvement of Strength and Strain Characteristics of Lightweight Fiber Concrete by Electromagnetic Activation in a Vortex Layer Apparatus
