Performance of oil palm EFB fibre reinforced concrete roof slates

Natural fibres such as wood and vegetable fibre offer many advantages such as renewability, recyclability low specific gravity and high specific strength. In Malaysia most of the studies only focused on producing EFB as MDF and pulp and paper products. This paper reviews the development of natural fibres for building material and discusses the performance of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) reinforced concrete roof slates produced in a preliminary experiment. Oil palm EFBs were used partially as cement replacement at levels of 0.5% and 1.0% and compared with the control specimens (0% fibre content). From the preliminary experiment, the physical properties of EFB roof slates were evaluated. Results show flexural strength and density decreased with increased fibre contents that were mixed with various water cement ratio. However, the results still exceeded the level set by the ASTM of 4 N/mm². The preliminary results from the experiment suggest that oil palm EFBs have a potential to be a material component of reinforced mortar roofing slates with the appropriate water cement ratio and concrete mix.