h i g h l i g h t sPhysical properties of PVA. Application of PVA in cement-based composite materials. Effects of PVA on the engineering properties of cement-based composite materials. Effects of PVA on the microstructure behavior of cement-based composite materials. a r t i c l e i n f o t r a c tPolyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was created about 90 years ago as the first synthetic colloid and it has been used for various applications since then. One of the significant applications of PVA is in the building industry. It was found that PVA can be used as a modifier, aggregate surface pre-treatment agent and fiber reinforcement in cement-based composite materials. This paper provides a review on the physical properties of PVA and discusses on the effects of PVA towards the engineering properties of cement-based composite materials. The effects of PVA on the changes in the fracture surface, structure of the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) and composition in ITZ of cement-based composite materials are also presented. In addition, the needs in research for future development of PVA in the building industry are also addressed.

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Oil palm shell (OPS) is a renewable resource obtained from agricultural solid waste after the extraction of palm oil. It has been previously reported that OPS can be used as a coarse aggregate substitute in the manufacture of structural lightweight concrete. Since OPS is an organic material, its properties may degrade after a certain period of time unless pre-treatment is applied on the aggregates. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) can be used to treat the OPS before being incorporated as coarse aggregates in concrete. It has been determined that the use of PVA as pre-treatment enables an improvement to the properties of raw OPS aggregates and consequently the resulting concrete. In this research work, the effect of PVA as pre-treatment on OPS aggregates on the mix proportion of OPS concrete was investigated. The results show that there was an increase in the slump values of the OPS concrete made with PVA treated OPS aggregates. The 28-day air-dry density and compressive strength of PVA treated OPS concrete slightly increased as compared to raw OPS concrete.