The Utilization of Areca Skin Fiber - Pumice and Epoxy Resin Towards The Characterization of Concrete Polymer

Abstract

The manufacturing and characterization of polymer concrete made from the mixture of areca fiber, pumice and sand as an aggregate and epoxy resin as a binder material has been conducted. The mixture of sand, pumice and areca shell fiber varies with (50:50:0) g, (49:49:2) g, (48:48:4) g, (47:47:6) g, (46:46:8) g, (45:45:10) g respectively, and epoxy resin (25.30) g in every variation of aggregate (sand + pumice + areca fiber). The results reveal that the best mixture composition in accordance to the experiment was a mixture of sand and areca shell with a ratio of 48:48:2 g as well as the addition of 30 g epoxy resin. The physical properties of polymer concrete were analyzed. The density was 1.81 (g.cmˉ³) and porosity was 1%. Moreover, the mechanical properties were also analyzed by performing the impact test with the result of 7.5 KJ/m² and bending strength test was 16.94 MPa. The XRD analysis indicated the presence of quartz, pumice stone, quartz, pumice stone hexagonal, while the areca fiber has an amorphous crystal shape.