Properties of Papercrete Concrete: Building Material: Mr. Yogesh D. Shermale, Dr. Mahaveer B. Varma
Properties of Papercrete Concrete: Building Material: Mr. Yogesh D. Shermale, Dr. Mahaveer B. Varma
Properties of Papercrete Concrete: Building Material: Mr. Yogesh D. Shermale, Dr. Mahaveer B. Varma
e-ISSN: 2278-1684,p-ISSN: 2320-334X, Volume 14, Issue 2 Ver. VII (Mar. - Apr. 2017), PP 27-32
www.iosrjournals.org
Abstract: A detailed investigation on papercrete specimen of size 100×100×100 mm made with different
ingredients like sand, fly ash and glass fiber was carried out after 28 days of air curing. Papercrete is a new
construction material made with waste paper, cement and water. Papercrete had been used to build low cost
homes without much knowledge of its structural properties. The purpose of this study is to obtain compressive
strength and mass density of papercrete by doing some trial mixes of papercrete with different ingredients.
From this study it has been observed that the papercrete is a lightweight material and it can be used as an infill
material in high rise buildings.
Keywords:papercrete, wastepaper, compressive strength, mass density, lightweight material.
I. Introduction
The emission of CO2 from construction sites due to use of cement is a major issue for all the countries.
On the other hand, people's desire to live in an eco-friendly environment is continuous increasing due to
awareness. Consequently this study is carried out in order to resolve these kinds of issues. Papercrete is a new
composite material made using waste paper. Papercrete reduces the amount of cement volume and make
environment friendly building material. [1]
Papercrete is a material originally developed 80 years ago but it is recently rediscovered. Papercrete is
a mixture of cement, sand, and paper. When combined and cured, these materials produce a product similar to
concrete; however, it is very lightweight. Furthermore, the cost efficiency gained by utilizing the ample supply
of recycled paper reinforces the need for the research of this alternative. All portions of the encasement structure
have different strength requirements. For example, the centerline of a beam does not need a large compressive
strength. By adding paper we can reduce the construction material density and use material in an efficient
manner, we maintain a structurally sound building at a lower cost. It was decided to study papercrete to measure
its strength, workability, and other properties to determine if it could be used to reduce the cost of buildings. [2]
Papercrete has good sound absorption characteristics. Papercrete made with some special mixes is
resistant to fire, fungi, and pests of all kinds. Papercrete blocks made with a sufficient quantity of Portland
cement and sand are fire resistant. We can make papercrete blocks fireproof by coating them with a solution of
boric acid and borax and using a concrete sealer papercrete blocks can be made waterproof.
Due to the light weight of Papercrete building blocks it can be used for interior walls in high-rise
buildings in seismically active areas. Using papercrete building blocks in place of conventional or concrete
bricks/blocks could reduce the dead load of structure and reduce the steel percentage and the depth of
foundations required. Use of wastepaper in concrete could become an economical and profitable substitute to
landfills, incinerator, or other use options. [3]
accurate measurement of ingredients. It is important to weight the waste papers before soaking them as it will be
difficult afterwards to calculate the original weight of paper. The process of making papercrete includes soaking
waste paper in water overnight so that the fibers are softened and then agitating the mix thoroughly to obtain a
homogeneous pulp. The Portland cement, sand and water are added to the pulp and mixed. The mixture is then
poured into moulds to create cubes and the forms are removed after 24 hours. After 28 days of air curing the
cubes are ready for testing (Fig.1). [4]
Specimen
The compressive strength was determined of cube size 100 × 100 × 100 mmusing Universal Testing Machine
(UTM). The test setup is shown in fig. 3. Two aluminum plates were used to uniformly distribute the load given
by the machine to the sample.
Items of Investigation
At the age of 28 days, papercrete specimens were tested for compressive strength of concrete as per IS: 516-
1959. Also before testing, the weight of samples was taken to calculate density of the material.
IV. Materials
A. Waste Paper:
Paper is the main ingredient of papercrete and hence the properties of papercrete depend on the
microstructure of paper used. Due to the anisotropic nature of paper; the quality and strength of its fibers, differs
depending on several factors. They are, the type of wood, the percentage of recycled paper, the amount of water
in the pulp, the way of pulping (chemical or mechanical) and the speed of drying. Table 2 shows the properties
of dry paper used.
B. Cement:
Ordinary Portland cement of 43 grade was used for the entire work.
C. Sand:
The fine sand confirming to the zone – I was used. The fineness modulus and specific gravity of sand were 3.4
and 2.52 respectively.
D. Fly ash :
Fly ash used was collected from the Dirk India Private limited, Nasik and confirming to the class-F. The
physical properties of fly ash are described in Table 3.
Cem-fill Anti-fibers can be simply added to the mix either on site or at mixing plant without the need for any
special equipment. Certain standard concrete mix designs are used for this purpose. Extended mixing times are
redundant.Properties of Cem-fill Anti-fibers are given Table 4 and it is shown in fig. 2.
b. Compressive Strength
The compressive strength of the papercrete varies with composition. The compressive strength test was
taken from two samples. Table 6 shows results of compressive testing. From the fig. 5 it is observed that
maximum compressive strength obtained in group F which is 5 MPa. Only group E and F gives the strength
more than 3.5 MPa due to addition of glass fiber. Here also Cement plays an important role of binding the
ingredients in mix.
VI. Conclusions
1. Cement plays an important role in the compressive strength and behavior. Specimens with higher
proportion of cement exhibit larger compressive strength.
2. In each group of papercrete mixes, compressive strength of concrete decreased with the increase of the
amount of wastepaper and vice versa.
3. The low density of papercrete indicates that they are lightweight and can be used in the form of either
hollow or solid blocks for making walls of buildings, in high-rise buildings. This property also makes
papercrete good for building arches and domes.
References
[1]. Fuller, B. J.; Fafitis, A. P.; and Santamaria, J. “Structural properties of a new material made of waste paper"Building Integration
Solutions (AEI) 2006, pp. 1-16.
[2]. Titzman, L. C., “Analysis of Low Cost Building Material for the Mix Alco Process” Texas A & M University, 2006.
[3]. Shukeri, R. B. and a Naser, A. G. "Concrete Mix with Wastepaper" 2nd international conference on built environment in developing
countries (ICBEDC 2008), pp. 567-575.
[4]. Yun, H.; Jung, H.; Choi, C., “Mechanical Properties of Papercrete Containing Waste Paper”, Architectural Institute of Korea, 2007.
[5]. Mandlik, D. N. and Varma, M. B. "Effect of Anti-Crack High dispersion Glass Fibers on Split Tensile Strength of Self Compacting
Concrete", International Journal for Scientific Research & Development (IJSRD),Vol. 3, Issue 07, ISSN (online): 2321-0613,
pp.216-219, 2015.
[6]. Akinwumi, I.; Olasunkanmi, M. O.; Oluwarotimi, M. O.; Paul, O. A. " Structural Evaluation Of Lightweight Concrete Produced
Using Waste Newspaper And Office Paper " Civil And Environmental Research, ISSN 2224-5790 (paper) ISSN 2225-0514 (online)
Vol.6, no.7, 2014, pp 160-168.
[7]. Shermale, Y. D. and Varma, M. B. " Papercrete: An Efficient Use of Waste Paper " Recent Trends in Civil Engineering and
Technology, ISSN: 2249-8753(Online), ISSN: 2321-6476(Print) Volume 5, Issue 3, 2016, pp 54-59.