Development and properties of composite cement reinforced coconut fiber with the addition of fly ash

The addition of 15 wt. % of coconut fiber has shown lowest value of density (1735 kg/m3) while reference samples show both lowest values in moisture content (3.64 %) and water absorption (0.79 %) compared to cement reinforced coconut fiber composite. Cement reinforced with 9 wt. % coconut fiber composite gave a better mechanical properties compared to others with highest values in compressive strength (58.98 MPa) and MOR (15.81 MPa). From this research, it was found that the coconut fiber can be used as reinforcement and fly ash can be applied as a substitution of sand in the development of coconut fiber based-green composite. Increasing content of coconut fiber will increase the compressive strength and modulus of rupture until some optimum composition (9 wt. % of coconut fiber).Full paper can be downloaded via below arXiv URL.