MATEC Web of Conferences 258, 010 11 (2019) https://doi.org/10.

1051/matecconf/201925801011
SCESCM 2018

A study into flexural, compressive and tensile strength of

coir-concrete as sustainable building material
Rilya Rumbayan 1,*, Sudarno 1, and Adriana Ticoalu 2
1Department of Civil Engineering, Manado State Polytechnic, Manado, Indonesia.
2Department of Civil Engineering, Sam Ratulangi University, Manado, Indonesia.

Abstract. Coir has been known as a potential natural fiber for many sustainable construction
material developments due to its wide availability and sustainable resource of coconut tree. This
research study aims to investigate the flexural, compressive and tensile properties of concrete
incorporating coir fiber and to find the fiber content which gives optimum results. In this study, coir
concrete specimens were cast and tested with variations of fiber content of 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%,
0.75%, and 1% by weight of aggregates. Flexural test was conducted based on SNI 4431:2011,
compressive test was conducted based on SNI 1974:2011 and tensile test was conducted based on
SNI 2491:2014. Slump tests and unit weight showed reduced values when fiber content was
increased. Flexural, compressive and tensile strengths of coir-concrete at a 28-day curing were
optimum for the variation with 0.25% fiber content. Compressive strength of control concrete at 28
days was approximately 23 MPa while BS-0.25 was 27.5 MPa. Flexural strength of control concrete
was 5 MPa while BS-0.25 was 6 MPa. Tensile strength of control concrete was 3 MPa while BS-
0.25 was 2.5 MPa. Results from the study showed that the presence of 0.25% fiber (by total weight
of aggregate) in the concrete gives approximately 19% improvement in 28 days compressive
strength and flexural strength.

1 Introduction benefits of developing coir containing materials offer

sustainable options in many areas including construction
Coir fibers or coconut fibers are extracted from the husk industry. Usage of coir in concrete is meant firstly is to
of coconut fruit. Coconut is a versatile plant, which substitute the concrete material with a more sustainable
grows mostly in tropical areas. According to 2015 data material, secondly to achieve competitive mechanical
from Indonesian Directorate General of Estate Crops [1], properties and thirdly to minimise production cost by
the total area of coconut plantation in Indonesia is reducing the material and the usage of local product.
3.585.599 Ha, with smallholder plantations having the When coir is incorporated into concrete, it offers the
biggest percentage (98.98%) while the rest is shared potentiality of economical and lightweight products that
between government and private plantations. Major can be used for examples as concrete blocks, shear walls,
products of coconut from Indonesia are copra, coconut structural or architectural walls.
oil, desiccated coconut, fresh coconut, coconut shell For coir-concrete to be used as sustainable building
charcoal, raw coconut fibers and processed coconut material, research into the mechanical performance is
fibers [1]. Production of raw coconut fibers or raw coir important to ensure that it meets the design criteria,
was 15,814,069 kg and processed coir was 19.857.460 economical and environmentally viable. Therefore, in
kg [1]. Furthermore, the 2010-2014 statistics data from this study, the flexural, compressive and tensile strength
the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC) of coir-concrete are investigated.
showed that the area of coconut plantation in Indonesia Different studies have reported the benefits of
was 3,610,000 Ha, which is the largest in the APCC list, increased strength and durability, and the use of coir as
followed closely by The Philippines and India [2]. potential reinforcement and additive materials in
Therefore, effective utilisation of products from coconut concrete and cementitious materials. Yan et al. (2016),
trees will promote sustainable development. reported the compressive strength and flexural strength
The production of coir justifies the sustainable choice of concrete containing untreated and 5% alkali-treated
of material for development. As a natural material, coir [3]. From their test results they found that there
locally resourced, continuous supply and lower price, the were increases in compressive strength and flexural

*
Corresponding author: [email protected]

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
MATEC Web of Conferences 258, 010 11 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201925801011
SCESCM 2018

strength of concrete with 1% fiber fraction (from mass of

cement) compared to the control concrete specimen.
Similarly, Andiç-Çakir et al (2014) reported increases in
compressive strength and flexural strength of mortar
specimens containing untreated and 5% alkali-treated
coir fiber [4]. They observed 0.4%, 0.6% and 0.75%
fiber fraction (from wt. of total mortar mixture).
Sathiparan et al. 2017, studied the mechanical and
durability properties of mortar containing 24 mm coir
fibers [5]. Their results show that an increase in fiber
fraction in mortar specimens has resulted in lower
density, increased water absorption rate, porosity and Fig. 1. Bale of coir fiber.
sorptivity.
Based on results of recent published literature, it can
be observed the addition of coir in concrete mix
increased the mechanical strength when the suitable or
optimum amount of coir is used. This study aims to
investigate the flexural, compressive and tensile strength
of coir-concrete and to find the fiber content which gives
optimum results.

2 Materials and methods

2.1 Coir fiber

Fig. 2. Prepared coir fibers.
Coir (coconut fibers) used in this study was obtained
from CV Puri Bitung Gemilang, North Sulawesi,
Indonesia. Figure 1 shows a bale of coir, Figure 2 shows
the prepared and cut coir fiber, while Figure 3 shows the
morphology of coir under optical microscope. All
experimental processes and testings were performed at
the concrete laboratory, Manado State Polytechnic. Coir
fibers were cut into 30 mm length, conditioned and
prepared for different coir-concrete variations.
Variations of coir fibers percentage in coir-concrete
mixture are 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1% of the
total weight of aggregates. The variations are labelled as Fig. 3. Coir fiber under optical microscope.
BS-0, BS-0.25, BS-0.5, BS-0.75 and BS-1, respectively.
2.3 Concrete mix
2.2 Fiber treatment
Coir-concrete mixes were prepared using Portland
To evaluate the effect of alkali treatment to coir fibers in Composite Cement (PCC), gravel and sand. The
concrete, separate groups of fibers were treated with 5% aggregates, gravel and sand, were locally available.
NaOH. Firstly, the 30 mm length fibers were washed to Density of gravel was 1339 kg/m3 and density of sand
remove impurities. Next, they were dried for 24 hours at was 1149 kg/m3. Design of concrete mix was based on
room temperature 24 0C. In a container, 5% NaOH with the Indonesian Standard for Concrete Mix Design, SNI
water was prepared. The fibers were immersed in the 03-2834-2000 [6]. Variation of coir-concrete is
solution for 180 minutes. After that, the fibers were presented in Table 1.
rinsed several times and then dried at 30 0C for 24 hours.
The treated dry fibers were put in closed plastic Table 1. Composition of coir-concrete mixtures
containers. variation (kg/m3)
Fine Coarse Coir
Mix Cement Water
Aggregate Aggregate Fiber
BS-0 420.1 736.8 789.2 205 0
BS-0.25 420.1 736.8 789.2 205 3.8
BS-0.5 420.1 736.8 789.2 205 7.6
BS-0.75 420.1 736.8 789.2 205 11.5
BS-1 420.1 736.8 789.2 205 15.3

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MATEC Web of Conferences 258, 010 11 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201925801011
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To ensure a good and homogenous distribution of 2.6 Tensile strength

coir fibers when mixing, the fibers were added by hand.
A concrete mixer with a capacity of one hundred litres Tensile strength of concrete sample is measured by split
was used. Every concrete batch was mixed for tensile test which is an indirect tensile testing. Tensile
approximately 10 minutes in the mixer. Before casting specimens are 100/200 mm cylinders. Three specimens
the concrete into steel moulds, the consistency and are tested for each concrete mix variation.
workability of each batch were evaluated by slump tests
using Abrams cone. 3 Results and discussions
Figure 4 shows the cast concrete specimens for
flexural test and Figure 5 shows those for compressive
and split tensile tests. All samples were taken out of the 3.1 Workability and unit weight of coir-concrete
moulds 24 hours after casting. Afterwards, they were
weighed and then immersed in water until one day Figure 6 shows the slump tests result of coir-concrete.
before the scheduled testing dates. The concrete mix without coir fiber shows a slump value
of 80 mm, which indicates the required workability
index according to SNI 03-2834-2000. By observing the
2.4 Flexural strength figure, it can be clearly noticed that the addition of
untreated coir fiber has significantly reduced the
Flexural test was set-up for a three-point bending test workability of the concrete mix. The addition of 0.25%
with distance between supports of 420 mm. Specimens coir fiber (by total weight of aggregate) resulted in
for flexural test are 100x100x500 mm rectangular lowered slump value to 50 mm. The slumps of the
prisms. Three specimens are tested for each concrete mix subsequent variations show gradually decreased values
variation. with increased amount of coir fiber. This tendency can
be attributed to the surface morphology and physical
properties of coir fibers. As reported by Yan et al. [3],
coir fibers have hydrophilic surface morphology and
therefore resist water.

Fig. 4. Cast concrete specimens for flexural test.

Fig. 6. Slump tests result of coir-concrete.

Interesting tendency can be seen for concrete mix

with alkali-treated coir fiber. As shown in the figure, the
slump values only started to decrease at the addition of
0.5% coir. Furthermore, the values are not considerably
Fig. 5. Cast concrete specimens for compressive and split decreased as in the case of concrete with untreated fiber.
tensile tests. For BS-0.25, the slump is 80 mm and then reduced to 70
mm for BS-0.5. Overall, for concrete with both untreated
2.5 Compressive strength and treated coir fibers, the slump is reduced in contrast
to the increased amount of fiber. This infers that coir
Compressive tests to the samples were performed on fiber reduced the workability of concrete mix and
100/200 mm cylinder specimens. Compressive strength indicates that the treatment has increased the workability
data were subsequently recorded. Three specimens are for the same amount of fiber. Similar findings are also
tested for each concrete mix variation. reported in Ozerkan et al. [7] and Ali & Chouw [8].
Considerable lower slumps of concrete with coir were
also reported by Yan et al. (2016) although according to
their observation, the workability of the coir fiber
reinforced concrete was reasonable [3].

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MATEC Web of Conferences 258, 010 11 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201925801011
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The unit weights of coir-concrete at 28 days are in approximately 16.5% decreased strength, 0.75%
presented in Figure 7. Overall, the unit weight of resulted in approximately 23% decreased strength and
concrete with untreated coir is between 2080–2250 1.0% coir resulted in approximately 41% decreased
kg/m3, while the unit weight of concrete with alkali- strength.
treated coir is between 2030–2230 kg/m3. In contrast, the Alkali treatment to coir resulted in lower
average unit weight of the control specimens is 2271 compressive strength of the specimens. Slight increase of
kg/m3. This shows that for both variations (untreated and approximately 2.4% is shown by specimen with 0.25%
treated), the addition of coir fiber influenced the unit treated coir. Similar to the trend of specimens with
weight of concrete. By being a lightweight material untreated coir, increasing the amount of fiber has
itself, coir in concrete has reduced the unit weight. It is resulted in lower compressive strength. An addition of
found in this study that the more the amount of coir in 1.0% of treated coir resulted in reduced value to half the
the concrete, the lesser the unit weight. It is also strength of plain concrete.
observed that the unit weights of concrete with treated
coir are lesser than that of with untreated coir. Yan et al.
(2016) reported a reduction of 1.7% of the density of
concrete with untreated coir, and 1.3% of concrete with
treated coir [3]. The reduction in density was inferred as
because of ‘possible enhancement of porosity’ due to the
incorporation of the fiber and also because coir is a type
of fiber that has low density [3].

Fig. 8. Compressive strength of coir-concrete at 28 days.

The failure patterns of coir-concrete after

compression are shown in Figure 9. Large damage area
can be observed from the figure of BS-0, as expected
from plain concrete. Although the compressive strength
results show decreasing values after BS-0.25, the failure
patterns show that the damage area is reducing linearly.
As shown in the figure, the damage area of BS-1 is the
Fig. 7. Unit weight of coir-concrete. least. This shows that the fibers assisted in reducing the
damaged area by acting as cracks consolidating agents
3.2 Compressive strength which slowed down the cracks propagations. Similar
findings were reported by Yan et al. [3]. As can be
Results from compressive test of coir-concrete observed from a close-up picture in Figure 9, the failure
specimens can be observed from Figure 8. The figure modes in coir-concrete are fiber pull-out and fiber
presents the compressive strength of concrete specimens breakage.
measured at 28 days. Overall, the trend of compressive
strength values of coir-concrete for both untreated and 3.3 Flexural strength
treated coir variations in comparison to the compressive
strength of plain concrete, is similar. When 0.25% (by Flexural strengths of coir-concrete at 28 days of curing
total weight of aggregate) of untreated coir was are shown in Figure 10. Again, it can be clearly observed
incorporated into concrete mix, the compressive strength that the strength is optimum for specimens with 0.25%
increased approximately 19%. However, when more coir.
untreated coir was added, the compressive strength
dropped progressively. Coir percentage of 0.5% resulted

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BS-0 BS-0.25 BS-0.5 BS-0.75 BS-1

Fig. 9. Failure mode of coir-concrete after compression tests.

More than 0.25% fibers have resulted in declining

3.4 Split tensile strength
flexural strengths. Significant difference can be observed
for concrete specimens with untreated coir. Control Concrete has low tensile strength compared to its
specimen achieved 5.11 MPa, then peaked at 6.09 MPa compressive strength. However, for design purposes, the
for BS-0.25. The flexural strengths decreased to 5.62 tensile strength is also an important input. Split tensile
MPa for BS-0.5 then drastically lower to 2.89 MPa for test is the method used to obtain the tensile properties.
BS-0.75 and 2.55 MPa for BS-1. This shows that more Figure 12 shows the results of split tensile strength of
fibers have created weakened parts in concrete. Flexural coir-concrete. The overall tensile strengths vary between
strengths of coir-concrete specimens with treated coir are 1.5 MPa to 3.1 MPa. The picture shows that more fibers
generally lower in comparison to specimens with have created weakened parts in concrete. Overall, for
untreated coir, except for BS-0.75. concrete with both untreated and treated coir fibers, the
tensile strength is reduced to the increased amount of
fiber. Tensile strengths of coir-concrete specimens with
treated coir are generally lower in comparison to
specimens with untreated coir, except for BS-0.25.

Fig. 10. Flexural strength of coir-concrete at 28 days.

From Figure 11, the failure modes of representative

flexural specimens can be observed. It is obvious that the
presence of coir fibers in concrete have assisted in
reducing the cracks opening. This means that the fibers
have provided tensile properties in certain extent. As can
be observed from the figures, the normal concrete
cracked and separated at approximately the centre where
the load was applied. Pictures of BS-0.25, BS-0.5, BS-
0.75 and BS-1 display visible cracks at the centre point,
however the cracks have less than 3 mm opening and the
tested specimens were holding together, i.e. did not
separate. BS-1 has the lowest flexural strength but the
cracks that happened can be observed as hair-line cracks.
This can be attributed to the fact that coir fibers are
resilient and provides excellent toughness. Similar
findings are also reported by Yan et al. [3]. In their
study, Yan et al. (2016) reported that the failure modes
of their specimens are fiber breakage and pull-out, and
fiber debonding between matrix and fiber.

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MATEC Web of Conferences 258, 010 11 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201925801011
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Fig. 12. Split tensile strength of coir-concrete.

4 Conclusions
As a natural resources material with large amount of
annual production in Indonesia and many other
countries, coir fiber offers potentiality for many
applications including as reinforcement to concrete
mixture. In this study, the compressive, flexural and split
tensile strength of coir-concrete were obtained and
evaluated. Variations of coir amount were 0%, 0.25%,
0.5%, 0.75% and 1% by weight of aggregates. Results
from this study showed that the optimum amount of coir
fiber in concrete is 0.25%, which gives approximately
19% improvement in 28-days compressive strength and
flexural strength. It is found in this study that the more
the amount of coir in the concrete, the lesser the tensile
strength. It was also found that the presence of fiber in
the concrete has resulted in lower workability.

Fig. 11. Failure mode of coir-concrete after flexural tests.

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