A STUDY OF USING GREEN MUSSEL SHELLS IN TILES MAKING

Abstract

Floor finishing like tiles are often used. In addition, the increase of garbage disposal is increasing over the time. For the manufacture of this product, green mussel shells will be collected from seafood restaurants to be used as a mixture of these tiles. The green mussel shells has a very attractive design on it. Therefore green mussel shells is the main ingredient for the production of this project. Crushed mussel shells 20% and 70% is used in concrete tile blends. In addition, the number of sample of products that have been produced is 6 tiles. Using this green mussel shells can also help to reduce the use of sand in the manufacture of concrete tiles. The problem statement in this study is to develop the potential of green mussel shells in tile making. In addition, green mussel shells is a waste that comes from food. Next, use of sand can be reduced by replacing part of the amount of sand with crushed green mussel shells. The objective of our study is to produce tiles using green mussel shells. In addition, we also can study the strength of green mussel shells tiles. Next, will be able to compare the strength of green mussel shells tiles with concrete tiles. The method used to make this product is by using a mold size (12 inches x 12 inches). Materials used in the manufacturing of this products is such as cement, sand, crushed mussel shells and fiberglass. Fiberglass will be placed into the mold and followed by the cement mixture. The findings obtained in this project in the Water Absorption Test is that the percentage of water absorption for tiles 20% green mussel shell is lower compared to the tiles 70% green mussel shell which is 4.11% and 6.6%. Meanwhile, in the Skid Resistance Test, 70% of the green mussel shell has a low potential for slipping and is safer when the tile is wet and meets the ASTM E303 standard value. The proposed improvement for the study is to place the silicone along the used tile mold space so that no overflow of resin flows out of the mold. In addition, the conversion of tile mold materials such as glass can increase the smoothness of the surface of the tile and the tile can be removed neatly and easily.