EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE

WATER ABSORPTION AND DENSITY

PROPERTIES OF EXPANDED POLYSTYRENE
CONCRETE

By

O. Nagarani 167R5A0123
B. Lakshmi Narayana 167R5A0127
S. Venu Kumar 157R1A01A0
V. Srikanth 157R1A01A6
J. Rithvik 167R5A0130
 ABSTRACT
 Demand of lightweight concrete is increasing in the construction
industry for the non-structural members. In this project, coarse
aggregates of concrete are replaced by Expanded Polystyrene
(EPS) beads to achieve lightweight concrete. This paper reports
the results of an experimental investigation into the Engineering
properties, such as compressive strength, Density&Water
absorption of EPS concrete to the standard concrete cube. The
cubes consists of 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5%, 15% EPS (by
vol.of coarse aggregate) for M20 mix design. The cubes were
tested at 7days, and 28days of curing. The results obtained were
compared with standard concrete. With the 15% replacement of
coarse aggregate, the density and water absorption properties of
concrete produced are within acceptable limits. Therefore, EPS
can be used to produce lightweight concrete that will perform the
required function at this level of replacement. The research used
15% volume of EPS to replace natural coarse aggregate to produce
a lightweight concrete, which is expected to be economical,
serviceable and meet the required standards for lightweight
concretes.
 KEY WORDS

 Lightweight concrete
 Expanded Polystyrene(EPS)
 HS-200 super plasticizer
 Non-Structural
 CONTENTS

1) Introduction
2) Materials
3) Batching&Mixing
4) Test’s on EPS based concrete
5) Results
6) Conclusion
 1.INTRODUCTION
 DEFINITION: EPS or expanded polystyrene is a rigid cellular plastic originally invented in
Germany in 1950. It has been used in packaging solutions since 1958. It is 98% air but the rest is
made from tiny, spherical EPS beads - themselves made only of carbon and hydrogen.
In this research, expanded polystyrene (EPS) was introduced as a partial re-placement of coarse
aggregate to produce a lightweight concrete, which is expected to be economical, serviceable and
meet the required standards for lightweight concretes. In this case, 15% by volume of natural
coarse aggregate is replaced with EPS. Laboratory experiments were conducted on the qualities of
concrete produced with this material as lightweight aggregate based on accepted standard codes
of practice for concrete. This work evaluated the mechanical properties in terms of density; and an
evaluation of the absorption property using water absorption.
The lightweight concrete (LWC) has no pollution to the environment because manufacture EPS
particle consumes little energy, and the particle has no poison and harm. The EPS concrete has the
characteristics of economy, environmental protection, and energy saving, meeting the design
concept of modern construction material.
 2.MATERIALS
 The test specimens were made with the same type as that
used for very high strength concrete and the EPS particle
took the place of part of the concrete or coarse aggregate.
 (1) Cement: It was made with CEM, cement-53grade (ordinary
Portland cement).
 (2) Fine Aggregate: It is made with rounded river sand with a
fineness modulus of 4.75
 (3) Coarse Aggregate: It is gravel with a diameter range of 12.5 to
20 mm.(irregular shapes)
 (4) EPS Particles: EPS particles are expanded polystyrene particle
size of 1.18 to 2.36mm diameter

 strength of the EPS concrete. Extremely light with the density of

only 12–20 kg/m3 which can cause segregation in mixing and make
the in homogeneity of the EPS concrete, leading to the decrease of
the compressive strength.
 3. BATCHING & MIXING
 The mix proportion which was obtained from the trail mix of
water/cement ratio for the experiments was (1:1.5:3) by weight with
a water/cement ratio of 0.5%. In this research, only 15% of the
volume of the coarse aggregate was replaced by equivalent volume
of EPS and mixing was manually done in the laboratory. The curing
of concrete cubes was by total submerging inside water in a curing
tank. The material mix proportion as shown in below table.

EPS
Cement Fine Sand Coarse
Ref. w/c Water Aggregate
(kg) (kg)
Ratio (ml) (kg)

Values 0.47% 1900 3.75 5.625 11.25 15%

And HS-200superplasticizer-50ml
 TEST’S ON EPS BASED CONCRETE

Sieve Analysis:
The sieve analysis for the aggregates was conducted to determine
their particle size distribution using recommended standard sieve
according to the fineness modulus of the fine and coarse
aggregates as material properties, were determined from the test.
Material properties:

Characterist Coarse Fine

ics aggregate aggregate
Max .size 12.5mm- Retained in
(mm) 20mm 4.75mm sieve
2)workability:
The slump test is the most well-known and widely used test method to
characterize the workability of fresh concrete. it was observed that
workability of a concrete mix increased on addition of polystyrene.
Workability of the mixes was observed to increase with increase in
percentage replacement of coarse aggregate with polystyrene.(as a partial
replacement of aggregate), the slump value was-0,3,3.6,5,7,9.7,12mm.

Slump Test
CURING:
After 24 hours, we put the cubes in a tank of water to
let the concrete become forcing and strength for 7 and
28 days.
4)WATER ABSORPTION %:

 Water absorption is the percentage of water necessary to be added to the

aggregate to obtain saturated surface dry condition. The water absorption
value should not be more than 5% for EPS concrete.

Equation: Total mass of water absorbed at each time was obtained by

subtracting the dry weight from the wet.
The absorption capacity is determined from the wet weight of cubes and
their corresponding oven dry weights at specified period. If the initial wet
weight is A, and the oven dried weight is B, the absorption capacity is then
computed in percentage as,

MC(%)=A-B/B*100%
5)DENSITY TEST:
 The density of concrete is a measure of its unit weight. Concrete is a
mixture of cement, fine and coarse aggregates, water, and sometimes
some supplementary materials like fly ash, slag, and various admixture.
A normal weight concrete weighs 2400 kg per cubic meter.

The unit weight of concrete (density) varies depending on the amount

and density of the aggregate, the amount of entrained air.

Both the wet and dry densities of concrete cubes (150 × 150 × 150)
size were performed.

Wet Density= wet mass/volume

Dry Density= oven dry weight/volume
6)COMPRESSION TEST:
 Strength of concrete is the most important, although other
characteristics may also be critical and cannot be neglected. Strength
is an important indicator of quality because strength is directly
related to the structure of hardened cement paste. Even though
strength is not a direct measure of durability or dimensional stability,
it has a strong relationship with the water to cement ratio of the
concrete, which in turn influences durability, dimensional stability
and other properties of concrete.
 5.RESULTS
EPS% Weight (Kg) Compressive Density
Strength (MPa) (Kg/m3)

0% 7.430 18.14 2.398

2.5% 5.752 14.32 2.931

5% 5.210 12.24 2.603

7.5% 4.990 12.29 1.506

10% 4.670 11.27 1.333

12.5% 3.430 11.16 1.286

15% 3.109 10.82 1.215

 CONCLUSION
 Increase in the EPS content in concrete mixes reduces the
split tensile strength of concrete.
 Increase in the EPS content in concrete mixes reduces the
density of concrete.
 Workability increases with increase in EPS beads content.
 Obtained results suggest that expanded polystyrene
concrete has scope for nonstructural applications like, wall
panels, partition walls, residential staircases etc.,