THE EFFECT OF ADDING WATER HYACINTH FIBER TO A SAND AND CEMENT MIXTURE FOR MAKING PAVING BLOCKS

Abstract

Paving block is one of the most widely used pavement materials in many places, including Indonesia. Currently, many consumers prefer paving blocks over other pavements such as concrete and asphalt. However, to meet these needs, the quality of paving blocks needs to be improved, in terms of both strength and service life. Therefore, the use of water hyacinth fiber as an additive is a promising step for an experiment aimed at improving the characteristics of paving blocks by adding water hyacinth fiber to the sand and cement mixture. In this experiment, the test specimens were made with a 1:6 mix and a water–cement ratio (w/c) of 0.54, compacted using a manual (conventional) method. Three normal specimens without any additive were made, followed by paving blocks with the same materials plus water hyacinth fiber at 1%–5% of the original cement weight. The average compressive strengths at 7 days, correlated to 28 days, for specimens N, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5% were 6.46 MPa, 5.69 MPa, 6.15 MPa, 4.46 MPa, 4.46 MPa and 4.15 MPa, respectively.