Abstract
Brazilian agro industries generate several types of crop residues and most of them show interesting properties for cement composite production. Among these residues, actually sugarcane straw particles (SCSP) are available in a great amount as a by-product of the sugarcane industries. However, residual sugar and other chemical products remain in the materials structure. In the most of the cases, these compounds inhibit cement setting. The aim of this research work was to evaluate, by means the hydration curve methodology, the performance of several treatments applied to the SCSP. Results indicated that mineralization was the most effective treatment and allows appropriate cement setting for the composite. SCSP treated by soaking in sodium silicate solution at 4%, followed by a second soaking in aluminum sulfate at 10%, showed an appropriate cement setting. Keywords: cement composite, hydration curve, chemical treatment, mineralization, agricultural waste
