Effectiveness of Agro-Industrial Conjugate Fibers in Improving Mechanical Properties of Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks

Abstract This study explores the creative use of a mixed reinforcement method that combines polyester and vetiver straw to overcome the constraint of limited strength and ductility of conventional Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEB). Although the individual use of vetiver straw and polyester fiber in soil reinforcement has been previously recognized in different scholarly literatures, this research attempts to thoroughly investigate a novel aspect of study concerning the specific role in enhancing the ductility feature of CSEBs using a conjugate mix of vetiver and polyester as a reinforcing agent. The results depicted that, specimens with polyester fiber showed better results in unconfined compressive and split tensile strength tests. However, a notable finding was that specimens with vetiver-polyester mix exerted better strain behavior for the unconfined compressive strength test. Also, the diagonal strain was improved for specimens with vetiver-polyester mix, which showcases the improved ductile attribute of the vetiver-polyester conjugate specimens, aligning with this study’s research scope. Microstructural analysis unveiled a more homogenous and isotropic soil matrix with fewer voids for the specimens with vetiver-polyester mix. This indicated a stronger bond formation between the fiber-soil interfaces. The water absorption test result also showed that specimens with vetiver-polyester mix exhibited improving results for 28 days test, which suggests that the durability of the specimen with fiber mix gradually increases over time. Ultimately, this study highlights the potential of the vetiver-polyester mix as an effective reinforcing component in cement stabilized CSEBs, for producing environmentally viable and sustainable building materials.