Ensayo a compresión de especímenes cilíndricas de hormigón con fibras de palma africana producidas en el Ecuador, expuestas a dos tratamientos químicos para disminuir la degradación en las fibras.

Abstract

The main objective of this research work is the durability of natural fibers in an alkaline medium, such as concrete. The African palm bunch fiber was used for the elaboration of concrete specimens, which must comply with the specifications of the Ecuadorian Institute for Standardization (INEN), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the American Concrete Institute (ACI). The vegetable fibers will be exposed to two treatments: I) Sodium hydroxide at a 4% concentration and II) Hot water at 100°C. in order to improve both their physical and chemical properties. The fibers will have a length of 38mm (1.5 pulg) and before being placed their surface, must be saturated dry, and counteract the change of volume of the fiber. In order to obtain the required strength, it is necessary to make some standard samples that will have a design dosage that are linked to the properties of the materials such as cement and aggregates. And the variables to consider are resistance of 21 and 24 MPa. A dosage with a proportion of 0.5% and 1.0% of fiber with respect to the total volume of the simple concrete mix is required. The results indicated that the best treatment is sodium hydroxide with a concentration of 4% and with 0.5% of African palm fiber with respect to the total volume of the concrete mix, both for the resistance of 21MPa and 24MPa.