Potential Enrichment of Physical Properties of Gypsum Adding Palm Tree Ash and Saw Dust

Natural architecture uses locally produced materials to assure the strength of the construction elements. Palm tree is widely planted in the Gulf Countries and its annual abounded residues constitutes a greater environmental burden of being neglected and rarely used or recycled in efficient ways. The paper discusses the potential changes in the physical properties of pure gypsum cubes when utilizing additives such as the ash and saw dust of palm tree residues. The additives were added in various proportions by weight. Four groups of different laboratory tests were conducted on four different groups of cubic samples made of pure gypsum powder, admixture of gypsum and palm tree ash, and admixture of gypsum and palm tree saw dust. Results showed that both sawdust and ash of palm tree have significantly enhanced the physical properties of gypsum cubes tested in this paper, weight, porosity, and compressive strength.