The effect of sugarcane bagasse as natural admixture to prolong concrete setting time

In construction activity, concrete need to be mixed with chemical retarder to prolong the setting time for the usage of transportation and limited pouring time especially in the area that far from concrete plant. Chemical retarder has been put to retard the hardened process. According to Building Specification 2015 by the Jabatan Kerja Raya Malaysia, concrete can set or hardened in 2 hours. There are three objectives in this research, which the first objective is to evaluate the usage of sugarcane bagasse in changing mechanical properties, second objective to determine the optimum content of sugarcane bagasse for the concrete setting time and third objective to determine the perception of industry the application of sugarcane bagasse in the ready mix concrete. A few samples were prepared from the sugarcane bagasse in 1%, 3% and 5% by weight of cement. By using Vicat apparatus for a penetration test, it can compare the time taken between normal mortar and mortar with sugarcane bagasse to set. 1% of sugarcane bagasse was used as an optimal percentage with the strength of concrete is higher than control sample for 28 days and 6 month. In addition, the setting time in penetration test for 1% of sugarcane bagasse also exceeded the control sample for 4 hours. This product will promote the sustainable waste material as non chemical admixture in concrete as a retarder.