SANDWICH PANELS WITH LIGHTEIGTH CONCRETE CORE CONTAINING OIL PALM SHELL AND CEMENT FACES REINFORCED WITH SHORT SISAL FIBERS
Hornification. Mechanical behavior. Oil palm endocarp. Sisal.
The use of sandwich panels is a good alternative in civil construction, as, in addition to having low weight and high strength, they can be prefabricated, facilitating transport and assembly on site. The general objective of this research was to devel-op a sandwich panel with a light concrete core containing agro-industrial residue and faces in cementitious material composed with vegetable fibers. In the composition of lightweight concrete, oil palm endocarp was used to replace the conventional coarse aggregate. The endocarps underwent a previous cleaning and were crushed before being inserted into the matrix. Four different compositions were tested for the con-crete to fill a proportion of endocarp and water to promote a concrete with low density and satisfactory strength. The panel faces were made of mortar reinforced with short sisal fibers. These fibers were hornified before being inserted into the matrix, seeking to avoid dimensional variation and, consequently, loss of adhesion at the fiber-matrix interface. The panels were obtained with physical and mechanical analyzes carried out through water absorption, permeability, axial compaction, four-point bending and ultrasound tests. Using 100% oil palm endocarp content and 0.35 a/binder factor for core concrete, panels with specific mass of 1480 kg/m³ and compression strength of 12.8 MPa were obtained. Thus, it is concluded that it is possible to make concrete with low specific weight using the oil palm endocarp, promoting a new use and in-creasing the added value of this residue.