Gum Arabic as an admixture for cement concrete production

The effects of gum Arabic as an admixture on the mechanical properties of cement concrete were evaluated using dosages of 0.00-1.00%, wt% by cement, and cured for periods of 3-90 days, before testing to failure. Properties of the gum Arabic concrete (GAC) such as workability, density, water absorption and compressive strengths were determined and their effects evaluated using experiments, X-ray diffraction and microstructure methods to generate data that were analysed by statistical methods using the Minitab 17 Software. The study found among other things, that the addition of gum Arabic to OPC improved the properties of the concrete because of minerals such as sepiolite, palygorskite and mordenite. The compressive strengths of the GAC increased as the dosage of GA was increased, and that dosage range of 0.50-0.75% is adequate for use. The optimum strength was achieved at 0.50% dosage, with percentage increase of 29.5-39.5%, above the control. The statistical analysis showed that the behaviours of the generated data on density, water absorption and compressive strength can be adequately represented by linear, natural log and square root models, respectively. These models were found to be appropriate and significant.