| Summary: | The weakness of most commonly used materials for wall, which are blocks or
clay bricks, is their weight and brittle characteristic. The raw material of
conventional clay brick is clay taken from productive wet fields. This causes
environmental problem due to its impacts such as decreasing fertility and
productive area width. The use of alternative material for concrete mixture has
been widely developed. According to Tjokrodimuljo (2007), various methods can
be used to reduce the concrete weight, such as the use of light aggregate. One of
the examples of light aggregate is polystyrene,which is a light-weight and rigid
insulator made from plastic.
This research studied the polystyrene concrete wall by using 12 specimens of
panels in 900 mm length, 300 mm width, and 90 mm thickness with wiremesh of
10x10 mm grid, 20x20 mm grid and controlled compression. The composition of
1 m
3
polystyrene concrete consisted of cement:polystyrene+sand =35%:65%, with
water-cement ratio of 0,4. The panel specimens consisted of three panels with
locket wire reinforcement of 10x10 mm grid and variation of 100%, polystyrene,
0% sand, three panels with wiremesh reinforcement of 10x10 mm grid and
variation of 90% polystyrene and 10% sand, three panels with wiremesh
reinforcement of 20x20 mm grid and variation of 100% polystyrene, 0% sand,
and three panels with wiremesh reinforcement of 20x20 mm grid and variation of
90% polystyrene and 10% sand. The horizontal flexural and compressive tests
were taken in this study.
Results of this study indicated that the average compressive strength of
polystyrene concrete without sand is 0,377 MPa and with 10% sand is 0,533 MPa.
The elasticity modulus of polystyrene concrete without sand is 48,09 MPa and
with 10% sand is 124,24 MPa. The average weight per m
3
of polystyrene
concrete without sand is 538,46 kg/m
3
, and with 10% sand is 800,48 kg/m
3
.
Water absorbency value for polystyrene concrete without sand is 33,39%, and for
polystyrene concrete with 10% sand is 32,48%. The largest compressive strength
of 1,0652 MPa is obtained by the specimen with 100% polystyrene, 0% sand and
wiremesh of 20x20 mm grid TB2PS0ST100. The largest flexural strength of 0,68
MPa, is obtained by the specimen with 90% polystyrene, 10% sand and wiremesh
of grid 20x20 mm TB3PS10ST90. In general, the compression and addition of sand
influence the wall panel strength. However, the influence of the wiremesh is
insignificant because the polystyrene concrete as the composing material of the
wall is damaged before the wiremesh works in maximal performance.
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