Philippine E-Journals

ABACA FIBER PANEL AS ROOFING SYSTEM

Deo Vane M. Conde | Mckevin H. Lutche | Kevin N. Tad-y | Julius C. Castañares

 

Abstract:

The roof which is the highest part of a house is a building’s first line of defense from natural hazards such as wind, rain, hail, ice, snow, and extreme heat. Given its importance, the use of Fiberglass roofing sheets is worth serious consideration. The production of glass fibers impacts the environment such as carbon dioxide emission and energy non-efficiency. The use of abaca fiber, instead of glass fiber, brought about primary energy savings of 60%. The researchers were impelled to use abaca fiber panels and determine whether it is significantly higher in terms of flexural strength, weight, and cost. Experimental method was used for the use of abaca fiber as main reinforcement and replacement for glass fiber in producing a fiberglass. Five 6” x 21” abaca fiber panels were made and compared to five 6” x 21” corrugated galvanized iron sheets. The samples were tested to compute its flexural strength and weighed to determine the mass and total cost. The results were analyzed using arithmetic mean and t-test. The t-test results indicated that the flexural strength and weight of abaca fiber panel were significantly lower than of the corrugated galvanized iron sheet. This shows that abaca fiber panel is lightweight roofing material but has a lower flexural strength compared to a corrugated galvanized iron sheet.