Experimental Study on Human Hair as Fiber Reinforced Concrete

: Most important and advanced invention in terms of new material being employed in concrete has been the development of Fiber reinforced concrete which proves to be a solution for problems relating to the formation of micro cracks. Fiber reinforced concrete is one among those advancements which offers a convenient, practical and economical method for overcoming micro cracks and similar type of deficiencies. Since concrete is weak in tension hence some measures must be adopted to overcome this deficiency. Human hair is generally strong in tension; hence it can be used as a fiber reinforcement material. Human hair Fiber is an alternative non-degradable matter available in abundance and at cheap cost. It also reduces environmental problems. Also addition of human hair fibers enhances the binding properties, micro cracking control, Imparts ductility and also increases swelling resistance. The experimental findings in our studies would encourage future research in the direction for long term performance to extending this cost of effective type of fibers for use in structural applications. Experiments were conducted on concrete cubes and beams of standard sizes with addition of various percentages of human hair fiber i.e., 0%, 1%, 2% and 3%, by weight of cement and results were compared with those of plain cement concrete of M-20 grade. For each percentage of human hair added in concrete, three cubes and three beams were tested at curing periods of 3 , 7 and 28 days. It is concluded that the 2% replacement of hair fibre by weight of cement is possible without compromising the strength with 28 days curing. “An Experimental Investigation into the mechanical properties of New Natural Fiber Reinforced Mortar”. This study highlights use of human hair fiber as reinforced material in cementitious material.

Experiments were carried to study the effects of fiber on the mechanical properties of concrete. Energy absorption capacity and ductility factor were modified significantly with the fiber content increased, which makes using the Human Hair fibre suitable for Earthquake resistant structures. Riya Babu M, Neena Rose Davis, published paper in "International Journal of Research in Advent Technology" on Hair Fibre Reinforced Concrete . In this study they observed that there is slight increase in strength of concrete according to the percentages of hairs by weight of cement. There was an overall increase of 1 -10% in the compressive strength of concrete test specimens by the addition of human hair fibers in different proportions. They concluded that the maximum increase is noticed in the addition of 2% hair fiber, by weight of concrete in all the mixes. Crack formation and propagation are very much reduced showing that fibre reinforced concrete can have its applications in Earthquake resistant structures.

III.
MATERIAL AND METHODOLOGY The Human Hair Fiber was locally purchased. Keratin is a protein that is responsible for the formation of human hair. Length of the Human hair fiber is 4 cm. Diameter is 60-100μm. Human hair creates environmental problems, to minimize that it can be used as reinforcing agent as a fibre. Addition of hair fiber to the concrete increases the mechanical properties. The cement is a material that has cohesive and adhesive properties in the presence of water, consist primarily of silicates and aluminates of lime. The OPC (53 Grade) is used for this study. The fine aggregate are material passing through an IS sieve that is less than 4.75 mm gauge beyond which they are known as coarse aggregate. The main function of the fine aggregate is to provide workability and uniformity in the mixture. The fine aggregates uses in this study are locally available river sand which conforms to zone III as per BIS code. The coarse aggregate form the main matrix of the concrete, whereas fine aggregate form the filler matrix between the coarse aggregate. The maximum size of aggregate used in this study is 20 mm. The coarse aggregate is confirmed by IS 383:1977 and is 20 mm maximum size. In this study mixes, we are planned to make with hair fiber with varying proportion of 0%, 1%,,2% and 3% by weight of cement. The cement, fine and coarse aggregates required for experimentation are tested in the laboratory and the results are shown in Table -2

IV.
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME The cement concrete mix is prepared as per the procedure given in the BIS 10262:2009. For optimal dosage selection of Hair Fibre in concrete mix, modified cubes (percentage ranging from 1% to3%) are prepared and compared with plain cement concrete cubes and beams with mix proportion of 1:1.59:3.05 are prepared. The addition of OPC with hair fibre is made on weight basis. The w/c ratio is taken 0.5% for all the mixes. The result of mix design of the concrete is shown in Table -3. In this investigation 12 cubes and 12 beam specimen are tested. The Cubes with the dimension of 150 x 150 x 150 mm and beams with dimension of 150 x 150 x 750 mm are prepared for each batch of mixes to measure compressive strength and flexural strength of concrete respectively at the age of3 days, 7 days and 28 days of curing. All the specimens are kept in water tank for curing and thereafter tested as per BIS norms and standard. All the cube specimens are tested for compressive strength in compression testing machine (CTM) and all beam specimens are tested for flexural strength in universal testing machine (UTM).

V. RESULT
The compressive strength and flexural strength of cement concrete containing various % of Hair Fibre at the age of 3, 7 and 28 days are given in Table 4 and 5 respectively.

VI. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The main aim of the study is to obtain the suitability of Hair Fibre in addition with OPC in concrete. The results of compression test and flexural test are shown in Chart-1 and Chart -2. It may be observed from the results that the properties of can be maintained with Hair fibre in addition with cement in concrete up to 2% by weight of cement.