Effect of taro roots starch as bio-admixture of the concrete

Abstract

Admixture is an additive to enhance the properties of the concrete such as durability, workability, and shrinkage, and to delay or rush the setting of the concrete. Admixture can be natural or chemical during concrete mixing. Chemical admixture can be very effective concrete, but too much exposure to chemicals can be dangerous to humans and the environment. On the other hand, the bio-based admixture is safe and the effect of the properties of the concrete is similar to the chemical admixture. The objective of this study is to determine the physical and mechanical properties of the concrete by adding taro roots starch to the concrete such as workability, durability, compressive strength, and setting time. The taro roots starch is obtained by manually grinding the taro root and drying its starch at 105°C until its fully dry, the starch is added to the concrete through the designated percentage and test the properties of the concrete are through the standard testing of ASTM and AASTHO. The samples with taro roots starch have less water absorption, which indicates that it has higher durability, the fresh concrete with taro roots starch delays the hydration process and hardening which is good when traveling afar from the batching plant, and the existence of taro roots starch in the fresh concrete improves the workability and enhance the compressive strength of fully hardened concrete. This study discovers that the taro roots improve workability and setting time while compressive strength and durability increase slightly. Through the viscosity effect of taro root starch, the workability improves significantly.