| Biomass furnace ash (BFA) generated from drying of grains in mechanical dryers were blended with cement in varying ratio of 1:4, 1:5, 1:6, 1:7 and 1:8 by volume. Each composition was cured in an ambient condition for 7, 14 and 28 days and determined their properties such as density, porosity, compressive strength and thermal shock resistance. Cold crushing strength increased with increasing cement content and curing time. Likewise, density increased with increasing cement content and curing time while porosity showed the other way. All the sample compositions exceeded 30 cycles without any crack when subjected to thermal shock resistant cycles of heating and cooling using a firing temperature of 1000oC in an electric muffle furnace. |
