Stimulus of Woven Fiberglass Mesh Jacketing on Porosity and Water Absorption Capacity of Lightweight Foamed Concrete

Abstract

In last few decades, the construction industry starts to implement the lighter, durable, cost-effective, long-lasting
materials for their construction project. Besides, awareness about the importance of sustainable development
becomes one of the criteria need to be considered during the selection of building materials. The invention of
lightweight foamed concrete (LFC) highly recommended to fulfilling their demand. However, due to the insertion of
foam, the LFC facing higher water absorption capacity and porosity which can influenced the performance of LFC.
Thus, in this investigation, the confinement of woven fiber glass mesh expectedly improves the water absorption
capacity and porosity of LFC. In order to analysis the comparable result, the mix design of this research was constant
where the cement to sand ratio fixed to 1.1:5 while the water is 0.45. Three different densities of LFC were cast
which were 600 kg/m3
, 1100 kg/m3
, and 1600kg/m3
. Besides, number of layer(s) of woven fiber glass mesh also
being examined. 1 to 3 layers of woven fiber glass mesh were compared to the control specimens to detail out its
effects and improvements. Based on the result obtained the porosity improved by 8.0% to 16.3%, 13.8% to 25.6%,
and 9.3% to 24.5% for the LFC with densities of 600 kg/m3
, 1100 kg/m3
, and 1600 kg/m3
confined with 1 layer, 2
layers, and 3 layers of woven fiber glass mesh, respectively. Besides, for the water absorption test, the enhancements
were 6.9% to 15.6%, 20.0 to 27.1%, and 12.2 to 29.6% for the respective densities and number of layers of woven
fiber glass mesh employed.