Utilization of Coconut Coir and Abaca Stripping Waste Fibers for

Cement Bonded Board

Valerio B. Cabalo Journal Science, Engineering and Technology
Vol. 3:183- 188(2015)

Abstract

In this research, the mechanical properties of brown coco coir and waste
of abaca stripping fibers were investigated as to the modulus of rupture
and nail head-pull thru. For each fiber 5 sample boards were produced
and each was subjected to study with 70:30; 60:40; and 50:50 cement-
fiber ratios. The tensile test was carried out using Universal Testing
Machine. Both by-products passed the standard set by PSB, although
the fibers from abaca stripping waste yielded higher MOR and NHPT.

Keywords: Alternative Construction Materials, Modulus of Rupture,

Nail Head Pull-Thru, Fiberboard,

1.0 Introduction which are abundantly available in

the locality of Southern Leyte and
Cement-bonded Board usually dumped in vacant lots to rot,
(CBB) refer to boards in panel form, were subjected to test on the
made out of flakes or any wood possibility of producing a bonded
species, mixed with cement, pressed board for construction material.
and formed into a board of desired
density and thickness. The first
researcher of this technology, Forest 2.0 Methodology
Product Research Development
Institute (FPRDI) based in Laguna, This study utilized complete
used twigs, branches, long end of random design in fabricating a
lumber and sugar cane bagasse as a sample board for each product with
response to the problem on the cement-fiber ratios of 70:30; 60:40;
availability of housing construction and 50:50. The procedure for the
material resulting from total log ban production of CBB of the two
issued by the government. Coco agricultural by-products were
coir and waste of abaca stripping, practically the same, except on the
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Southern Leyte State University, Sogod, Southern Leyte

Valerio B. Cabalo
first procedure, the decorticating of
husks, to produce coco fibers. The
next step was soaking of fibers for
24 hours to remove dusts and other
extractives; draining the fibers after
24 hours; mixing the required
amount of fiber and cement
dissolved in 0.6 liter water with
calcium chloride; mat-forming using
wooden form box of 30 x 30 cm. ;
lining slabs with plastic sheets;
pressing the mat with the use of
hydraulic machine and setting aside
to air dry for 48 hours or 2 days. The
produced 5 slabs of each kind of
fibers, 5 x 20 cm. were sliced for
testing of modulus of rupture, and
1.5 x 10 cm. were sliced for nail
head pull thru testing.
3.0 Results and Discussions
Modulus of Rupture
The average result for MOR
of five slabs with 70:30 cement-fiber
ratio were as follows: 69.69 kg/cm²
for AF and 76.30 kg/cm² for CC; for
60:40 mixture the result was 65.41
kg/cm² for AF and 65.32 kg/ cm²
for CC; for 50:50 ratio the result was
24.69 kg/ cm² for AF and 21.04 kg
for CC (Table 1).
The result concludes that
slabs with higher cement content
gives a better result in terms of
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Southern Leyte State University, Sogod, Southern Leyte
184
Journal Science, Engineering and Technology
Vol. 3: 183- 188(2015)
modulus of rupture or breakage. This
had been proven in the study of
Soriano et al. (1997), he indicated
that the tensile strength of wood can
improve MOR of the board when the
amount of cement is sufficient to
develop a wood-cement bond. In
another study by Sotande et al., he
revealed that increase in cement
content of the boards and addition of
chemical additives significantly
influenced the board density,
internal bonding and compressive
strength.
Nail Head Pull-Through
The average result for NHPT
of five slabs with 70:30 cement-fiber
ratio were as follows; 87.66 kg for
AF and 20.5 kg. for CC; for 60:40
mixture the result was 62.16 kg. for
AF and 18.5 kg. for CC; for 50:50
ratio the result was 54 kg. for AF
and 17.16 kg. for CC.
In the study of Rosario et al.
(1998), he noted that higher NHPT
resistance was observed at higher
board density from 1,000 to 1,200
kg/m3 with 50 to 60 percent amount
of stalk (fiber materials). The study
conducted by Mallari et al., he
revealed that cement/wood ratio and
cement-accelerator combination
significantly affected the NHPT and
in the study of Eusebio on the
Utilization of bamboo for cement-
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Valerio B. Cabalo Journal Science, Engineering and Technology
Vol. 3: 183- 188(2015)

bonded board, he also revealed that spotted which could be due to

NHPT decreased as the amount of
cement was increased from a
bamboo:cement ratio of 50:50 to
30:70.
In line with the inspection of
the finished products, holes were
improper mixture of the fibers with
the cement before pressures were
applied. Though this needs to be
validated through further study, the
presence of the holes could be a
great factor on its performance.

Table 1. Modulus of rupture of the five test samples of slabs from each fiber with
different cement-fiber ratios.

Table 2. Nail Head Pull-Through .

Table 3 showed a significant and abaca strippings passed the

difference of coco coir and abaca Japan Industrial Building standard in
stripping cement bonded-board. terms of modulus of rupture and
It was observed that there comparably they are almost of the
was no significant difference in the same quality in terms of modulus of
modulus of rupture between coco- rupture or breaking limit.
coir and abaca strippings. Both CBB
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Southern Leyte State University, Sogod, Southern Leyte
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Valerio B. Cabalo Journal Science, Engineering and Technology
Vol. 3: 183-188(2015)

Table 3. Significant Difference between CBB made of coconut coir and abaca
strippings in terms of Modulus of Rupture .

Table 4 shows that there is a terms of Nail Head Pull Through,

significant difference between coco
coir and abaca strippings in terms of
Nail Head Pull Through. Coco coir
was found to be more advantageous
compared to abaca strippings in
but both passed the JIS and the
Philippine Building Standard for
CBB thus making both feasible in
making Cement Bonded Board.

Table 4. Significant difference between CBB made of coconut coir and

abaca strippings in terms of nail head pull through.

4.0 Conclusions board for house construction.

Further investigation is
The mechanical properties of needed in developing the effects of
coco coir and waste of abaca thickness swelling and internal
stripping fibers were investigated as structure of tensile strength.
to the modulus of rupture and nail
head-pull thru.
Results showed that wastes 5.0 References Cited
from abaca stripping fibers had
higher tensile strength as compared Badejo SOO, Dadas SA. 1978.
to that of Coco coir. But both fibers Effect of specific gravity and
can be utilized as cement bonded resin content on bending
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Southern Leyte State University, Sogod, Southern Leyte
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Valerio B. Cabalo Journal Science, Engineering and Technology
Vol. 3: 183-188(2015)

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Southern Leyte State University, Sogod, Southern Leyte