Characterization and Impact of Curing Duration on the Compressive Strength of Coconut Shell Coarse Aggregate in Concrete

Partial replacement with coconut shell coarse aggregates was studied as a means to produce lightweight coconut shell concrete (CSC). Coconut shell concrete is a structural grade lightweight concrete that has a lower self-load compared to the normal weight concrete (NWC), which allowed the production of larger precast units. An experimental study and analysis were conducted using different volume percentages of 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, and 70% of coconut shell as coarse aggregates, to produce M30 (30 MPa) grade concrete. The compressive strength of the NWC and CSC were obtained on the 7th and 28th day. The optimum results obtained for M30 grade concrete at 7th and 28th day of CSC were 34.2 and 38.6 MPa, respectively. In addition, the workability and weight-reduction were analyzed and compared with NWC. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS/EDX) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were also used to investigate the structural morphology, chemical composition, and infrared functional groups of the concret