Groundnut shell ash as a partial replacement of cement in sandcrete blocks production

Abstract

The production of sandcrete blocks using groundnut shell ash (GSA) as cement replacement was investigated. Six number sandcrete blocks were cast for each replacement levels (0, 10,20,30,40, and 50 percentage) with GSA. The blocks were cured and crushed at 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. The results show that the compressive strength ranges from 4.50 N/mm2 to 0.26N/mm2.The optimum replacement level was achieved at 20% with a corresponding strength of 3.58 N/mm2. The strength at the optimum level was within the recommended limit of the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) 87:2000. The results also showed that the strength decreases with increase of cement above 20% replacement. It was also observed that in the chemical composition of the GSA as compared to cement, the amount of K2O was higher in GSA and also CaO was less than what is obtained in cement.