The influence of wood ash fineness on early strength development of hollow sandcrete blocks

The influence of wood ash fineness on early strength development of hollow sandcrete blocks

Akeem Ayinde RAHEEM, Favour Wuraola KOLAWOLE, Isaiah Oluwafemi OGUNTOLA, Oludayo Ajani AKINTOLA

Abstract. This study investigates the use of Wood Ash (WA) as partial replacement for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in sandcrete blocks. Hollow sandcrete blocks were produced by partially replacing the cement content with 15% of WA by weight in different fineness, (425 ,250 ,125 ,75 μm), Blocks without WA serve as the control. The blocks were produced with the use of Vibrating block moulding machine with 6‟ (450mm x 225mmx150mm) mould. Mix ratio (1:8) cement-sharp sand ratio was used as recommended by NIS 87:2007. The blocks were tested for compressive strength, density, and water absorption at 7,14, 28 days. The results showed that the wood ash belongs to Class C pozzolan due to its high CaO content of 55.90%, which is well above the 20% typically required for Class C pozzolans, as specified in [6]. The compressive strength of sandcrete hollow blocks at 28 days were 2.14N/mm2(Control), 1.078N/mm2,1.088N/mm2,1.101N/mm2, and 1.252N/mm2 for blocks with 15% wood ash fineness 425μm, 250μm, 125μm, 75μm, respectively. The density obtained at 28 days were 1884.25 kg/m3(Control), 1520.74 kg/m3, 1597.51 kg/m3,1632.59 kg/m3 and 1741.06 kg/m3 for blocks with 15% wood ash fineness 425μm, 250μm, 125μm, 75μm, respectively. The water absorption obtained at 28 days are 8.84%(Control), 19.35%, 14.35% ,7.319% and 4.172%. for blocks with 15% wood ash fineness 425μm, 250μm, 125μm, 75μm, respectively. Blocks with finer wood ash 75 μm showed better compressive strength, density, and lower water absorption compared to coarser ash. The use of wood ash improved the durability characteristics of sandcrete blocks.

Keywords
Wood Ash, Pozzolan, Compressive Strength, Sandcrete Block, Water Absorption

Published online 3/25/2025, 10 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA

Citation: Akeem Ayinde RAHEEM, Favour Wuraola KOLAWOLE, Isaiah Oluwafemi OGUNTOLA, Oludayo Ajani AKINTOLA, The influence of wood ash fineness on early strength development of hollow sandcrete blocks, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 51, pp 39-48, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903537-5

The article was published as article 5 of the book Advances in Cement and Concrete

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

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