Construction and Building Materials 90 (2015) 36–43

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Influence of different types of polypropylene fibre on the mechanical

properties of high-strength oil palm shell lightweight concrete
Ming Kun Yew a,⇑, Hilmi Bin Mahmud a, Bee Chin Ang b, Ming Chian Yew c
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
b
Centre of Advanced Materials, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
c
Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering, Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering & Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Cheras 43000 Kajang, Malaysia

h i g h l i g h t s

 Polypropylene fibres enhanced the strength of oil palm shell lightweight concrete.
 PPTB1 of 0.5% fibre produced the highest compressive strength.
 Addition of 0.5% PPTB1 fibre achieved the highest tensile strengths.
 The highest residual compressive strength was found for 0.5% PPTB1 fibre.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study aims to investigate the use of various polypropylene (PP) fibres with different aspect ratio and
Received 8 May 2014 geometry to enhance the mechanical properties of oil palm shell fibre-reinforced lightweight concrete.
Received in revised form 6 March 2015 The volume fractions (Vf) of 0.25%, 0.375% and 0.5% were studied for each fibre. As various PP fibres were
Accepted 12 April 2015
added into oil palm shell fibre reinforced concrete, the marginal density reduction was reported. The
Available online 16 May 2015
effectiveness of new types of PP fibres to increase the compressive strength at later ages was more pro-
nounced than at early age. It is found that low volume fractions of polypropylene twisted bundle (PPTB)
Keywords:
fibres are more effective in improving the flexural strength of OPS concrete compared to its splitting ten-
Lightweight concrete
Oil palm shells
sile strength. The average modulus of elasticity (E value) is obtained to be 13.4 GPa for all mixes, which is
Polypropylene fibres higher than the values reported in previous studies. An increase in the percentage third load compressive
Mechanical property strength of 0.5% PPTB fibre of up to 11% was reported. Hence, this new types of PP fibres is a promising
Density alternative solution to compensate lower mechanical properties for lightweight concrete.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The current state of the structural lightweight aggregate con-
crete industry was born out of realization of sustainable construc-
tion. Development of sustainable structural lightweight concrete
construction using oil palm shell (OPSLWC) is due to the density
limit of 2000 kg/m3 [1]. The utilization of industrial and agricul-
tural waste materials can be a breakthrough to make the industry
more environmentally-friendly and sustainable. It has led to green
and sustainable construction to improve the environmental friend-
liness of concrete by reducing the cost of construction materials
and waste management. The utilization of waste materials, such
as natural pumice, vermiculite, shale, slate, oil palm shell (OPS),
fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), silica fume,
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 3 79675203; fax: +60 3 79675311.
E-mail addresses: davidyew@siswa.um.edu.my, yewmingkun@gmail.com
(M.K. Yew).
recycled concrete, recycled tyres, and recycled plastics, have been
successfully used in concrete [2–4]. Recently, a large amount of lig-
nocellulosic wastes OPS is generated due to the increasing number
of plantations of oil palm trees in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Nigeria
[5]. This waste is considered as one of the potential lightweight
aggregate (LWA) in the development of lightweight aggregate con-
crete (LWAC). It is reported that Malaysia contributed some
18.79 million tonnes of crude palm oil on approximately 5 million
hectares of land [6], making it a major producer of palm oil.
Calculations show that 1.1 tonnes of shells, or 5.5% of the weight
of the fresh fruit bunch, is produced annually from each hectare
cultivated. There are many advantages of using OPS, especially
when the material cost is minimized by utilizing the waste OPS
aggregate in construction. These include savings in reinforcement,
scaffolding, formwork and foundation costs. Furthermore, such
concrete can be used for heat insulation, sound absorption,
better fire resistance, superior anti-condensation properties and
increased damping [7].

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.04.024
0950-0618/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M.K. Yew et al. / Construction and Building Materials 90 (2015) 36–43
Air-dry density of oil palm shell concrete (OPSC) varies in the
range of 1868–1988 kg/m3 with a corresponding 28-day compres-
sive strength of more than 40 MPa [8–13]. In a past studies, the
enhancement of mechanical properties of OPSC is dependent on
the density, aggregate content, crushed or uncrushed particle size
of OPS and heat treatment on OPS aggregate [8–10]. Other factors
include water-cement ratio and incorporation of cementitious
materials (silica fume, fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace
slag). The influence of density on the compressive strength of OPSC
can be observed from previous studies [8–13]. Alengaram et al.
[14] showed that with a density of about 1900 kg/m3, a compres-
sive strength of 37 MPa with the addition of silica fume (SF) can
be produced. However, Yew et al. [10] reported that heat treatment
on OPS aggregate, having a density of about 1945 kg/m3 achieved
compressive strength of 49 MPa. Furthermore, Shafigh et al. [8,9]
have successfully produced compressive strength of up to
53 MPa for a density of about 2000 kg/m3. It is generally known
that, high compressive strength of LWAC results in brittleness
and weak in tensile strength [15] and the density of LWAC is lim-
ited to 2000 kg/m3 [1]. As a result of these characteristics, LWAC
could not support normal stresses and impact loads, where tensile
strength is approximately one tenth of its compressive strength. It
can be seen from recent research that, OPSLWAC can be reinforced
with discontinuous (steel, polypropylene and nylon) fibres to over-
come high potential tensile stresses and shear stresses at critical
location in OPSLWC member [16–19]. However, the main disad-
vantage of adding steel fibres into OPSLWC in fresh state is its sig-
nificant reduction in slump value and increased density.
Furthermore, the inclusion of polypropylene and nylon insignifi-
cantly increased the mechanical properties of OPSC, particularly
for the tensile strength [17]. One innovative method to improve
the mechanical properties of OPSC without reaching the density
limit is an addition of a new type of non-metallic fibre namely
polypropylene twisted bundle (PPTB).
This study is to access the effects of different types of PP fibre
and aspect ratio at various volume fractions of 0.25%, 0.375% and
0.5% on mechanical properties of OPSC. The beneficial effects of
new types of PP fibres are considered in the investigation on
fibre-reinforced oil palm shell concrete (FROPSC). To the best of
the authors’ knowledge, so far there are no reports on the effects
of the different geometries (lengths and shapes) of PP fibres on
the properties of OPSC incorporating fibres. In this study, the
mechanical properties of OPSFRC containing fibres at three differ-
ent percentages is evaluated and reported. The primary objective
of this study is to investigate the effects of PPTB fibres at various
volume fractions on the compressive strength of OPSFRC. The
effects of different PP fibres on the splitting tensile strength, flexu-
ral strength, modulus of elasticity and residual compressive
strength (RCS) are also investigated.
2. Experimental details
2.1. Materials
2.1.1. Cement
The cement used in this study was ASTM type I ordinary Portland cement (OPC)
[20] with a specific gravity of 3.14 g/cm3 and Blaine’s specific surface area of 3510
2
cm /g. The chemical compositions and physical properties of the OPC are given in
Table 1. A cement content of 520 kg/m3 was used for all mixes.
2.1.2. Mineral admixture
Silica fume (SF) is available in dry powder form and is procured from
ScancemMaterials Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur. The light gray, under the product name
‘‘Scancem’’ is available in 20 kg bags. The SF procured by the company satisfies all
the requirements of the International Standards; ASTM C1240 [21] and AS 3582
[22]. The amount of densified SF at 5% of the cement weight was added as addi-
tional mineral admixture to enhance the mechanical properties of concrete.
37
Table 1
Chemical composition and physical properties of OPC.
Chemical composition (%) Physical properties
SiO2 Fe2O3 CaO MgO Al2O3 SO3 LOI Specific Blain specific
gravity surface area
(cm2/g)
21.28 3.36 64.64 2.06 5.60 2.14 0.64 3.14 3510
2.1.3. Water and superplasticizer (SP)
Potable water to binder (w/b) ratio of 0.30 was used for all mixes. The SP used in
this study was polycarboxylic ether (PCE) supplied by BASF, and complies with the
ASTM C494/C494 M [23] specifications. The amount of SP was kept constant at 1.0%
of the cement weight in order to improve workability.
2.1.4. Aggregate
Local mining sand was used as the fine aggregate. The specific gravity, fineness
modulus, water absorption and maximum grain size were found to be 2.68 g/cm3,
2.72, 0.97% and 4.75 mm, respectively. A sand content of 960 kg/m3 was used in
all mixes.
Old OPS were used as the coarse aggregate in this study, indicating that they
had been discarded for more than six months. The old OPS were collected from a
local crude palm oil producing mill. The percentage of fibres for old OPS (less than
2%) has been selected as an aggregate, which improves contact between the mortar
and OPS grains and thus increases the compressive strength of the concrete. The
advantages of using this aggregate in OPS concrete were reported by Shafigh
et al. [8]. The OPS were washed and sieved using a 12.5 mm-sieve. The OPS aggre-
gates retained in the sieve were collected and subsequently crushed using a
stone-crushing machine in the laboratory. The crushed OPS aggregates were sieved
using a 9.5 mm-sieve to remove OPS aggregates with sizes greater than 9.5 mm. The
OPS aggregates were heat-treated at 60 °C over a period of 0.5 h using a
temperature-controlled laboratory oven. Once cooled to room temperature, they
were weighed under dry room conditions and immersed in water for 24 h. Due to
the high water absorption of OPS, it was subsequently air dried in the laboratory
to attain a saturated surface dry (SSD) condition before mixing. The difference in
quality of the OPS surface between heat treatment and without heat treatment con-
dition was reported by Yew et al. [10] and shown in Fig. 1. The OPS content was set
constant at 330 kg/m3 for all mixes. The physical properties of the OPS used, are
shown in Table 2.
2.1.5. Fibres
The properties of different type of PP fibres are presented in Table 3. The three
types of PP fibres are (i) polypropylene twisted bundle 1 (PPTB1); (ii) polypropylene
twisted bundle 2 (PPTB2) and (iii) straight polypropylene 1 (PPS1), respectively, as
tabulated in Table 3.
2.2. Mix proportions
The proportions used for all mixes as described in Section 2.1. The volume frac-
tion (Vf) of the fibres added to the concrete mix typically ranges from 0.1% to 3.0%
[24]. It is noted that fibres with a high Vf tend to ‘ball’ in the mix and create work-
ability problems. Therefore, low volume fractions (60.5%) were used for the PP
fibres in this study. The volume fraction of the PPTB fibres was set as 0%, 0.25%,
0.375% and 0.5%. The amount of water and superplasticizer was kept constant for
all mixes.
2.3. Test methods
The procedure used to mix the fibre reinforced concrete is detailed as follows.
Firstly, the OPS and sand were poured into a concrete mixer and dry mixed for
1 min. Following this, the cement was spread and dry mixed for 1 min. The fibres
were then distributed and mixed for 3 min in the mix, based on the volume fraction
specified above. Water and superplasticizer were then added with a mixing time of
5 min. Slump test was carried out prior to casting the specimens. The concrete spec-
imens were cast onto oiled moulds and a poker vibrator was used to decrease the
amount of air bubbles in the mix. For each mixture, 150 mm  150 mm  150 mm
cubes were used to study the compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity
(UPV) at 1, 3, 7, 28, 56 and 90 days. Two cylinders (diameter: 150 mm, height:
300 mm) were used to examine the modulus of elasticity. Three cylinders (diame-
ter: 100 mm, height: 200 mm) and three prisms of 100 mm  100 mm  500 mm
were used to examine the 28-day splitting tensile strength and 28-day flexural
strength, respectively. The specimens were demoulded approximately 24 ± 2 h after
casting. The compression testing machine used was an ELE (Engineering Laboratory
Equipment) with a load capacity of 3000 kN running of 3.0 kN/s in accordance to BS
EN 12390-3:2009 [25]. Furthermore, RCS involves reloading the cube specimens for
further 3 cycles after reaching maximum value, the failure in the compression test
setting at 15% to ascertain the corresponding RCS.
38 M.K. Yew et al. / Construction and Building Materials 90 (2015) 36–43

(a) (b)

Fig. 1. Surface quality of OPS aggregates (a) with heat treatment and (b) without heat treatment.

Table 2 200
Physical properties of OPS aggregates. PPTB 1 PPTB 2 PPS1
180
Physical property OPS OPSa
y = -18.75x + 203.75
160 R² = 0.974
Maximum size (mm) 9.5 9.5
Specific gravity (saturated surface dry) 1.33 1.30

Slump (mm)
Compacted bulk density (kg/m3) 628 625 140 y = -17.15x + 202.85
R² = 0.9664
Water absorption (24 h) (%) 23.5 20.8
Aggregate impact value (%) 2.35 2.37 120

a
Heat-treated. 100 y = -14.5x + 200.5
R² = 0.9397
80

3. Results and discussion

60
0.000 0. 25 0 0 .3 7 5 0. 500

3.1. Workability (slump) Volume fraction of PP fibre (%)

Fig. 2. Relationship between different PP fibre volume fraction and slump.

Slump tests were carried out to determine the consistency of
fresh concrete. The use of fibres is well known to affect the work-
ability and flowability of plain concrete intrinsically [26]. In this
study, the quantity of water and SP were kept constant for all
mixes in order to evaluate the effects of different PP fibres on the
workability of OPC. From Fig. 2, it can be seen that the slump value
of fresh OPSC decreases due to an increase in PP fibre volume frac-
tion. The addition of fibres from 0% to 0.25%, 0.375% and 0.5% for
PPTB1, PPTB2 and PPS1 reduces the range of slump values by
approximately 11.1–64.3%, 13.9–82.7%, and 16.7–95.8%,
respectively. The results indicate that, the PPS1/0.25-0.5 of shorter
length produced a lower slump in the range of 65–150 mm com-
pared to PPTB1/0.25-0.5 (90–160 mm) and PPTB2/0.25-0.5 (75–
155 mm), respectively. Mehta and Monteiro [26] reported that a
slump value for structural lightweight concrete in the range of
50–75 mm is comparable to an equivalent value of slump of
100–125 mm for NWC. This phenomenon might be attributed to
the shorter length of fibres have higher effective surface area for

Table 3
Properties of different type of polypropylene fibres and aspect ratio.

Fibre Fibre type Length (mm) Aspect ratio Specific gravity Tensile strength
(g/cm3) (MPa)
Monofilament-polypropylene twisted bundle 1 (PPTB1) 54 108 0.91 600

Monofilament-polypropylene twisted bundle 2 (PPTB2) 30 60 0.91 600

Monofilament-polypropylene straight 1 (PPS1) 20 40 0.91 600

 M.K. Yew et al. / Construction and Building Materials 90 (2015) 36–43 39

the development of a fibre–matrix bond compared to longer fibres.
The bond increases the viscosity which restrains the mixture from
segregation and flow. The fibres have the tendency to absorb a
higher amount of cement paste to wrap around due to the high
fibre content and large surface area of fibres, which in turn,
increases the viscosity of the mixture [27]. Hence, PP fibres of
shorter length and higher volume fraction produced lower
workability.
The results of Yap et al. [17] showed that the slump value
decreases upon addition of 0.5% Vf fibrillated (length: 19 mm,
aspect ratio: 48) and multi-filament (length: 12 mm, aspect ratio:
240) polypropylene fibres into the OPS LWC. The reduction in
slump value was found to be 47% and 60%, respectively. Several
studies attempted to overcome this problem by producing more
workable concrete. This was achieved by determining the opti-
mum content of sand and adding superplasticizer [28]. The addi-
tion of superplasticizer improves the concrete’s flowability and
workability without segregation [29–32]. Campione et al. [33]
attained good workability in their mixtures by adding 1.5% of
superplasticizer by cement weight for pumice and expanded clay
LWACs reinforced with steel fibres. As a general rule, a low amount
of fibres is recommended to achieve good workability for fibre
reinforced concrete [34].
3.2. Hardened density
Two types of density (demoulded density (DD) and oven-dry
density (ODD)) were measured for all mixes. The correlation
between the demoulded and oven-dry densities as a function of
fibre volume fraction is shown in Fig. 3. It can be observed that
the concrete’s density decreases slightly with increasing fibre vol-
ume fraction, which is attributed to the fibres’ low specific gravity.
All mixtures fulfilled the requirement of structural lightweight
concrete by having an ODD and DD within the range of 1835–
1910 kg/m3 and 1897–1975 kg/m3, respectively. Newman and
Owens [1] stated that, concrete with an oven-dry density (ODD)
of not greater than 2000 kg/m3 is defined as structural lightweight
concrete. This OPSFRC shows a close proximity value with the ODD
reported in previous studies [18,19].
The results showed that, the addition of different type and
geometry of PP fibres caused remarkable changes in the density
reduction of OPSC. The inclusion of PPTB1, PPTB2 and PPS1 fibres
produced density reduction in the ODD and DD of about 10–
75 kg/m3 and 12–78 kg/m3, respectively. From Fig. 3, the mixes
with PP straight shape fibres produced a lower ODD and DD than
the PPTB1 and PPTB2 geometry (twisted bundle) fibres. At 0.5%
Vf, the PPS1 produced the lowest ODD and DD of about 1835 and
1897 kg/m3. In comparison to the density of normal weight
PPTB1 (Demoulded) PPTB2 (Demoulded)
PPTB1 (Oven-dry) PPTB2 (Oven-dry)
1990
y = -10.25x + 1988.8
1970 R² = 0.9806
y = -10.7x + 1988.3
1950
Density (kg/m³)
concrete (NWC) taken as 2350 kg/m3, the ODD and DD for all light-
weight mixes are approximately 22% and 16% lower than of ordi-
nary concrete. Hence, there is substantial cost savings by
providing less dead load for LWC in this study.
3.3. Compressive strength
The results of the compressive strength at different ages (1 d,
3 d, 7 d and 28 d) are presented in Table 4 for all mixes. From the
results of Table 4, the compressive strength of OPSC increased at
all ages with an increase in PP fibres volume fraction. It can be seen
that the early compressive strength of both OPSC and OPSFRC was
achieved. It can be attributed to the addition of silica fume (SF)
which reacts with calcium hydroxide (CaOH) liberated from hydra-
tion of the cement to produce calcium silicate hydrates (C–S–H) to
improve aggregate-cement paste interface of concrete and conse-
quently minimizes the induction of micro-cracks. It has been
reported that, not all types of lightweight aggregate are suitable
for production of HSLWC [35]. This investigation shows that the
use of agriculture waste OPS aggregate for production of HSLWC
is possible. Yew et al. reported that the use of heat treatment
method on crushed OPS aggregate caused notable surface quality
improvement and enhance adhesion between the OPS and cement
paste [10]. A slight increase in compression strength was observed
at 130 °C for 6 h has also been reported elsewhere [36].
The 28-days compressive strength of the OPSC and OPSFRC var-
ies between 41 and 47 MPa, which fulfilled the high-strength light-
weight concrete (HSLWC) requirements with respect to density
and strength [37]. It was found that the compressive strength of
specimen PPTB1/0.5 showed the highest compressive strength
compared to control specimen, with a percentage increase of
15.4% at 28-days. A comparison of the strength at early and later
ages indicate that the rate of strength development was greater
as the age increased, especially for OPSC with higher PP fibres con-
tent. From the results of Table 4, it can be seen that the mixes from
PPTB1/0.25 to PPTB1/0.5 increases the compressive strength by
5.9% and 10.0% at 1 d, 8.9% and 11.5% at 3 d, 7.0% and 10.6% at
7 d, 6.4% and 10.9% at 28 d, respectively. It can be observed that,
the OPSFRC with twisted bundle shape and higher aspect ratio pro-
duced higher compressive strength as compared to the straight
fibres. It may be due to the twisted bundle shape fibres which have
good bond and anchorage in the matrix resulting in more strength.
There is decrease in the strength with decrease in aspect ratio of
same shape of fibre. All the mixtures attained about 90–93% of
their 28 d compressive strength at the age of 7-days. In this study,
the ratio of 1 d and 3 d strength to 28 d was 66–71% and 75–79%,
respectively. Holm et al. reported [38] that the 7-day strength to
28-day strength ratio for HSLWC is between 86% and 92%.
Furthermore, Fujji et al. [39] also reported that this ratio for
PPS1 (Demoulded)
HSLWC was between 80% and 90%.
PPS1 (Oven-dry)
Table 4
Compressive strength development of control concrete and OPSFRC under continuous
moist curing.
R² = 0.99 Mix code Compressive strength (MPa)a

1930 1d 3d 7d 28 d
y = -10.1x + 1924.4
1910
R² = 0.9706 y = -12.3x + 1985.7 Control 28.9 (70.7%) 31.4 (76.7%) 38.1 (93.0%) 40.9
R² = 0.9714
PPTB1/0.25 28.6 (67.1%) 32.8 (77.1%) 39.3 (92.4%) 42.6
1890 PPTB1/0.375 30.3 (66.8%) 35.8 (78.9%) 42.1 (92.8%) 45.3
y = -10.85x + 1923.2
R² = 0.9915 PPTB1/0.5 31.4 (66.6%) 36.6 (77.5%) 43.5 (92.1%) 47.2
1870
PPTB2/0.25 28.9 (68.5%) 32.3 (76.6%) 39.0 (92.5%) 42.2
y = -12.4x + 1924.1 PPTB2/0.375 30.0 (66.5%) 35.5 (78.6%) 41.8 (92.6%) 45.1
1850 R² = 0.9942
PPTB2/0.5 31.2 (66.7%) 36.2 (77.3%) 43.3 (92.5%) 46.8
1830 PPS1/0.25 30.1 (71.2%) 31.9 (75.3%) 38.5 (90.9%) 42.4
0.000 0.250 0. 375 0.500
PPS1/0.375 29.8 (66.3%) 34.9 (77.6%) 41.6 (92.5%) 44.9
Volume fraction of PP fibre (%) PPS1/0.5 30.4 (65.3%) 36.1 (77.4%) 43.2 (92.7%) 46.6
a
Fig. 3. Relationship between different PP fibre volume fraction and density. The data in parentheses are percentage of 28 day compressive strength.
40 M.K. Yew et al. / Construction and Building Materials 90 (2015) 36–43

Fig. 4 shows the compressive strength development for OPSC 60

containing PP with different geometry and length. The results indi-

Compressive strength, fcu (MPa)

cate that control mix achieve saturated compressive strength after
50 fcu = 0.733 (Ut)2.9
28 d. It can be observed that, all mixes reinforced with different PP R2 = 0.97
and aspect ratio showed improvement of compressive strength as
the age increased (>28 d), especially for PPTB1/0.5 with highest
40
fibre content. As can be seen from Fig. 4, there is notable difference
between control and OPSFRC specimens containing different PP
fibres and aspect ratio pertaining to 56 d and 90 d compressive 30
strength increment. It was reported [17] that the OPSFRC with
nylon fibres showed consistent compressive strength and slightly
enhancement of about 3–6% compared to the control mix. 20
3.40 3.50 3.60 3.70 3.80 3.90 4.00 4.10 4.20
However, the results of the present investigation showed that
UPV (km/s)
OPSFRC containing different PP fibres and aspect ratio increases
the compressive strength significantly compared to the control Fig. 5. Relationship between the UPV and compressive strength up to 90 days.
specimen. The mixes from control to PPTB1/0.5, control to
PPTB2/0.5 and control to PPS1/0.5 at 28 d consistently increases inhomogeneity of concrete, as well as changes in concrete such
the compressive strength by about 4–15%, 3–14% and 4–14%, as deterioration due to aggressive chemical environment, freezing
respectively. This observation may be attributed to the higher ten- and thawing. It has been stated that concrete with UPV values
sile strength of different type of the new PP and aspect ratio com- within the range of 3.66–4.58 km/s are considered as concrete with
pared with other PP (fibrillated and multi-filament). In this study, ‘‘good’’ condition [43]. In general, it can be seen that the UPV of the
an increasing compressive loading will initiate and advance the control concrete and OPSFRC increased with increase in compres-
cracking on OPSC specimens. When the advancing crack sive strength and the values were found within the range of
approaches PP fibre, the debonding at the fibre–matrix interface 3.45–4.16 km/s. From the results, it is evident that the specimens
begins due to the tensile stresses perpendicular to the expected of different type of PP fibres have a positive effect on the UPV val-
path of the advancing crack. Once significant amount of tensile ues of OPSFRC. It was found that UPV can be correlated with its
stress was introduced in concrete, micro-cracks and subsequently corresponding cube compressive strength, as shown in Fig. 5, with
macro-cracks were formed [40–42]. This phenomenon showed a R2 value of 0.97. Eq. (1) is proposed to estimate the cube com-
that the addition of PP fibres improved aggregate-fibre-cement pressive strength based on the UPV values.
paste interface of the concrete and consequently increased the
f cu ¼ 0:733ðU t Þ2:9 ð1Þ
compressive strength.
where fcu represents the cube compressive strength (MPa) and Ut
3.4. Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) represents the transverse ultrasonic pulse velocity (km/s).

The UPV is a non-destructive test method used to assess the
quality of the concrete. This method can be used to estimate the
strength of concrete test specimens and also useful on-site where
destructive strength test is not applicable. As shown in Fig. 5, rela-
tionship between the UPV and the cube compressive strength was
measured at the ages of 1 d, 3 d, 7 d, 28 d, 56 d and 90 d. The UPV
method can be used to detect internal cracking, voids and
3.5. Splitting tensile and flexural strengths
In this study, the low dosage of different type of PP fibres and
aspect ratio in concrete has positive effect on the splitting tensile
and flexural strengths. From the results of Table 5, the addition
of different types of PP fibres enhanced both splitting tensile and
flexural strengths of OPSFRC. Furthermore, the increment of fibres

55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
Compressive strength (MPa)

45
44
43
42
41
40
39
38
37
36
35
34 Control PPTB1/0.25 PPTB1/0.375
33
32 PPTB1/0.5 PPTB2/0.25 PPTB2/0.375
31
30 PPTB2/0.5 PPS1/0.25 PPS1/0.375
29
28 PPS1/0.5
27
26
25
0 20 40 60 80 100
Age (days)

Fig. 4. Development of compressive strength of control and OPSFRC.

 M.K. Yew et al. / Construction and Building Materials 90 (2015) 36–43 41

Table 5
Mechanical properties of control concrete and OPSFRC.

Mix code Mechanical properties

Splitting tensile Flexural strength Modulus of elasticity
strength (MPa) (MPa) (GPa)
28 d
Control 3.10 5.45 11.64
PPTB1/0.25 3.35 7.05 12.68
PPTB1/0.375 3.85 7.12 13.62
PPTB1/0.5 4.12 7.64 15.36
PPTB2/0.25 3.42 6.43 12.55
PPTB2/0.375 3.68 6.67 13.39
PPTB2/0.5 3.95 7.09 14.82
PPS1/0.25 3.49 5.75 12.04
PPS1/0.375 3.54 5.97 13.25
PPS1/0.5 3.74 6.52 14.46
Fig. 6. Image of tested prism specimen – note the different type of PP fibres
bridging across the crack.
volume fraction had a significant effect on both splitting tensile
and flexural strengths. It can be seen that, the addition of different
types of PP fibres greatly increased the splitting tensile strength of
F - Flexural ST - Splitting Tensile
concrete. As found from this investigation, the addition of
PPTB1/0.25–0.5%, PPTB2/0.25–0.5% and PPS1/0.25–0.5% fibres PPTB1-F PPTB2-F PPS1-F PPTB1-ST PPTB2-ST PPS1-ST

enhanced the splitting tensile strength up to 8–33%, 10–27% and 8.00

y = 0.1211x + 1.8162
13–21% respectively compared to the control mix. On the other 7.50 R² = 0.7602 (PPTB1)

hand, the flexural strength of PPTB1, PPTB2 and PPS1 mixes pro- 7.00
28-day tensile strength (MPa)
duced significant improvement compared to the control concrete. 6.50 y = 0.1369x + 0.6117
R² = 0.9039 (PPTB2)
The flexural strength of PPTB1, PPTB2 and PPS1 increased with 6.00
an increase in fibres volume content. The average flexural strength y = 0.1739x - 1.6814
5.50 R² = 0.8766 (PPS1)
for PPTB1/0.25–0.5%, PPTB2/0.25–0.5% and PPS1/0.25–0.5%
5.00
increases by 7.3%, 6.7% and 6.1%, respectively. The addition of y = 0.1671x - 3.7518
4.50 y = 0.1114x - 1.295 R² = 0.9956 (PPTB1)
higher aspect ratio and twisted bundle shape of fibres provide R² = 0.9734 (PPTB2)
4.00
added strength to the fibre–matrix interface which carry part of
the applied load and the crack bridging effect as shown in Fig. 6. 3.50 y = 0.0559x + 1.0954
R² = 0.8129 (PPS1)
The content of fibres volume fraction used in this study is lower 3.00
42 43 44 45 46 47 48
compared to previous studies [17–19]. 28-day compressive strength (MPa)
However, PPS1 showed higher splitting tensile strength com-
pared to PPTB2 and PPTB1 at 0.25% volume fraction. It might be Fig. 7. Relationship between tensile strengths (splitting tensile and flexural
strengths) and compressive strength.
attributed to the lower aspect ratio (L/d) of PPS1 fibres exhibiting
higher effective surface area for the development of a fibre–matrix where ft and fcu represents the splitting tensile and cube compres-
bond compared to PPTB2 and PPTB1 fibres. Thus, the greater sur- sive strengths in MPa, respectively.
face area of PPS1 fibres was effective in transferring higher tensile An equation to correlate splitting tensile strength and compres-
stress compared to PPTB2 and PPTB1 fibres. The average splitting sive strength of OPSFRC is proposed in Eq. (4), whereby a higher
tensile and flexural strengths of PPTB1/0.25–0.5, PPTB2/0.25–0.5 coefficient of correlation is produced (accuracy = ±8%). Shafigh
and PPS1/0.25–0.5 mixes were found to be 22%, 19%, 16% and et al. reported that an accurate prediction of tensile strength of
33%, 23%, 12% higher, respectively than the control concrete. It concrete imperative in mitigating cracking problems, minimize
can be seen that, low fibre volume fraction (up to 0.375%) are more the failure of concrete in tension and increase shear strength pre-
effective in improving the flexural strength of OPSC compared to diction [45], is shown below:
splitting tensile strength. This phenomenon might be attributed
qffiffiffiffiffiffi
to the fibre geometry, which provides added strength to the matrix
f t ¼ 0:55 f cu ð4Þ
through reduces the stress concentration at the crack section and
improves the crack growth resistance [44] and consequently, Different equations have also been proposed to correlate flexu-
enhances the tensile strength of OPSFRC. ral strength to compressive strength of OPS LWAC by Alengaram
The linear relationship between tensile strength (splitting ten- et al. [46] in Eq. (5) and Yap et al. [17] in Eq. (6) for OPSFRC with
sile and flexural) and compressive strength for OPSFRC at the age PP and nylon fibres. A new equation, Eq. (7) is suggested for
of 28-day is correlated in Fig. 7. It can be observed that, the advan- OPSFRC with different PP fibres to predict the flexural strength
tage of PP fibres in the enhancement of tensile strength is more within ±12%.
evident in the OPSFRC with PPTB1 and PPTB2 compared to PPS1 qffiffiffiffiffiffi
fibres. It was stated that, different equations have been proposed f r ¼ 0:3
3 2
f cu ð5Þ
to correlate splitting tensile strength to compressive strength of
OPS LWAC by Shafigh et al. [45] and Yap et al. [17]. They predict qffiffiffiffiffiffi
3 2
splitting tensile strength based on the compressive strength of f r ¼ 0:385 f cu ð6Þ
OPSC and OPSFRC as shown in Eqs. (2) and (3):
qffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffi
f t ¼ 0:4887 f cu ð2Þ f r ¼ 0:53
3 2
f cu ð7Þ
qffiffiffiffiffiffi
f t ¼ 0:52 f cu ð3Þ where fr and fcu are the flexural and compressive strengths in MPa,
respectively.
42 M.K. Yew et al. / Construction and Building Materials 90 (2015) 36–43

3.6. Modulus of elasticity (E) PPS1/0.5

PPS1/0.375
The modulus of elasticity (E) is an imperative test to assess the PPS1/0.25
material properties of concrete as it provides useful information on PPTB2/0.5
the ability of concrete to deform elasticity in the design of concrete
PPTB2/0.375
structures. From the results of Table 5, all OPSFRC have E in the

Mix
TLCS
PPTB2/0.25
range between 12.0 and 15.4 GPa. However, the control OPSC SLCS
mix without any fibres produced a MOE of 11.6 GPa. It can be seen PPTB1/0.5 FLCS

that, the 28-day MOE of the OPSC was found to increase with the
addition of different types of PP fibres and aspect ratio as shown
in Table 5. Similar finding for PP2 (multifilament) is reported by
Yap et al. [17]. The increase of the E for PPTB1/0.25–0.5,
PPTB2/0.25–0.5 and PPS1/0.25–0.5 mixes was in the range of 9–
32%, 8–27% and 3–24%, respectively. The addition of different types
of PP fibres caused improvement of MOE due to higher aspect ratio
and geometry of fibres in arresting the original shrinkage cracks in
the concrete [47] and hence reduced the strain induced under
compression loadings, and consequently improved the E of
OPSFRC.
As seen from Fig. 8, a good relationship is established between E
and compressive strength of concrete. The following three equa-
tions is proposed for different type of PP fibres to relate the E
and the cube compressive strength of OPSFRC.
1=2
Et1 ¼ 7:49f cu  36:39
1=2
Et2 ¼ 6:20f cu  27:89
Es1 ¼ 7:50f cu  36:86
1=2
where Et1, Et2, Es1 and fcu are the modulus of elasticity (GPa) of
PPTB1, PPTB2 and PPS1 fibres and cube compressive strengths in
MPa, respectively.
3.7. Residual compressive strength (RCS)
The residual compressive strength (RCS) is a simplified method
to assess the residual strength toughness of concrete. The results
from first compressive strength are further loaded into residual
strength for second and third compressive strength. The RCS pro-
vides a clearer comparison on the beneficial effects of different
type of PP fibres and volume fraction in enhancing the
post-cracking of OPSFRC. As seen from Fig. 9, the control specimen
of OPSC had the lowest RCS values as the specimen failed without
fibre–matrix bond when the initial compressive loading was
applied on the cube specimens. The post-failure compressive
15.6
15.4 PPTB1
15.2
15.0
14.8
14.6
Modulus of elasticity ( GPa)
PPTB1/0.375
PPTB1/0.25
Control
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00
Comparison of 1st, 2nd and 3rd load compressive strength at 28-days
Fig. 9. Comparison of 1st, 2nd and 3rd load compressive strength at 28-days.
strength values for second load compressive strength (SLCS) and
third load compressive strength (TLCS) further reduced to 67.7%
and 39.0%, respectively. The percentage TLCS of PPTB1/0.5 mixes
produced the highest RCS values compared to PPTB2/0.5 and
PPS1/0.5 with a value of 50.8%. It might be attributed to the higher
aspect ratio, geometry as well as content of PPTB1 fibres. Similar to
ð8Þ the previous observation, the crack bridging effect of fibres that are
existent at the crack face is capable of sustaining a higher
ð9Þ post-cracking to propagate further, compared to concrete with
low volume fraction of fibres. This indicates that, the addition of
ð10Þ fibres is expected to enhance the post-failure toughness of OPSC.
In general, all OPSFRC mixes produced high RCS and this indicates
the imperative of this type of PP fibres in improving the
post-cracking characteristics.
4. Conclusion
The effects of incorporating different types of PP fibres and
aspect ratio at low volume fractions up to 0.5% on the mechanical
properties of high-strength oil palm shell lightweight concrete
have been investigated in this study. The following conclusions
are drawn based on the experimental results:
(1) PP fibres reduce the slump value of concrete. The reduction
in slump value is within the range of 11–64% for different
type of fibres. However, the reduction in slump value is less
than that for fibrillated and multi-filament PP fibres at sim-
ilar volume fractions.
(2) The addition of this type of PP fibres contribution to density
of concrete cannot be ignored, which reduces construction
cost in foundation design, erection and installation
PPTB2 PPS1 (3) The compressive strength of OPSC increases with an increase
in PP fibre content. Plain OPS concrete has a 28-day com-
E = 7.49fcu ½ - 36.39 pressive strength of 41 MPa, and this value increases to
R2 = 0.923 (PPTB1)
42–47 MPa when the concrete is reinforced with different

14.4
E = 6.20fcu½ - 27.89
14.2
R2 = 0.908 (PPTB2)
types of PP fibres at volume fractions of 0.25–0.5%.
14.0
13.8
(4) The addition of 0.5% Vf of PPTB1, PPTB2 and PPS1 fibres
13.6 increases the splitting tensile strength of OPS concrete by
13.4
13.2
33%, 27% and 12%. Based on the results, it is recommended
13.0 that the minimum volume fraction of the different type of
12.8
12.6 E = 7.50fcu ½ - 36.86 PP fibres is 0.375% after reporting the results for 0.5%.
R2 = 0.986 (PPS1)
12.4 (5) The effect of incorporating different type of PPTB fibres at
12.2
12.0
low volume fractions in improving the flexural strength of
11.8 OPS concrete is more pronounced compared to its effect on
6.45 6.50 6.55 6.60 6.65 6.70 6.75 6.80 6.85 6.90
splitting tensile strength.
Compressive strength (MPa ½)
(6) The specimens for both OPSC and OPSFRC can be categorized
Fig. 8. Relationship of compressive strength and modulus of elasticity (E) at 28- as ‘‘of good’’ condition after 7 days based on the UPV test
days. results.
 M.K. Yew et al. / Construction and Building Materials 90 (2015) 36–43
(7) Different types of PP fibres exhibit a positive effect on the
modulus of elasticity of OPS concrete. It is found that the
average E value measured in this study is 13.4 GPa for all
mixes, which is comparable to the E values reported in pre-
vious studies.
(8) The inclusion of different types of PP fibres at 0.5% volume
fraction improved the post-failure toughness especially in
comparison to the third residual compressive strength
(RCS) of OPSFRC as compared to control specimen. The
fibre–matrix bond enhanced the RCS values of OPSFRC,
which is a sign of ductility.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from
University of Malaya under the Institute of Research Management
and Monitoring (Project No.: PG007-2013A), University of Malaya
Research Grant Scheme (Project No.: RP018/2012C and
RP022C-13AET) and Fundamental Research Grant
Scheme (Project No.: FP048-2013B). In addition, BCA would like
to thank for the financial support of the Ministry of Higher
Education, Malaysia through High Impact Research Grant
MOHE-HIR D000008-16001.
The authors extend special thanks to Mr. Yew See Hing for
collecting the oil palm shell coarse aggregate species and
Ir. Hong Chung Sin for providing the polypropylene fibres to this
research.
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