Experimental Study of Sodium Polyacrylate on Fiber Reinforced Self Curing Concrete

In order to get the necessary properties of concrete, the early stages of the curing process need maintaining a sufficient moisture content and temperature. But effective curing of concrete is not always possible in many situations. An attempt has been made to produce internally cured concrete using sodium polyacrylate, as super absorbent polymer. An experiment was conducted using M25 grade concrete with sodium polyacrylate at 0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5% by weight of cement, respectively. Sodium polyacrylate was chosen because of its ability to absorb and gradually release water. Concrete is commonly used in construction due to its compressive strength, however it has considerable weaknesses in tensile strength. To address these concerns, an attempt has been made to improve the tensile strength of concrete by incorporating fibers. This experiment aims to evaluate the impact of super absorbent polymers (SAPs) on the mechanical properties of coconut and polypropylene fiberreinforced concrete. The mechanical properties of different concrete mix with varying amounts of SAPs, polypropylene fibers, and coconut fibers were evaluated. Concrete cubes and cylinders were cast and tested for seven days and twenty-eight days, respectively According to the experiment results, when SAP was used in concrete with different amounts of coconut and polypropylene fibers, the compressive and tensile strength of the concrete increased.