PROPERTIES OF COMPOSITES INCORPORATING CELLULOSIC FIBERS

Nowadays, with the understanding of the importance of the green building concept, there is a constantly increasing demand for ecological construction materials. The application of raw materials from renewable sources such as wood, plants and waste to building materials preparing has gained a significant interest in this research area. With the consideration of environmental consciousness, natural fibers are biodegradable so as they can alleviate the problem of massive solid waste produced and relief the pressure of landfills if they are used for replacing other non-degradable materials for product development. In this experimental work, wood pulp and recycled waste paper fibers in addition 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.5% were used. The fiber cement composites were subjected to a characterization of their composition including the assessment of a complex set of basic physical and mechanical properties after 7 and 28 days of hardening. Experimental results show that application of small amount of cellulosic fibers lead to a reduction of density up to 6% when compared with the reference composite. However, cement composites based on wood pulp showed better mechanical properties such as compressive and flexural strength in comparison with cement composites with recycled waste paper fibers.

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