Mechanical Properties of Mortars Reinforced with Amazon Rainforest Natural Fibers

• Published in: Materials Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 155
• Main Authors: da Fonseca, Régis Pamponet, Rocha, Janaíde Cavalcante, Cheriaf, Malik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 31.12.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: amazon rainforest natural fibers; Asbestos; Autoclaves; Biodegradability; Cellulose; Cement; Cement reinforcements; Composite materials; Compressive strength; Concrete; Construction materials; Corrosion; fiber reinforced cement mortars; Fibers; Flexural strength; Fly ash; Jute; Mechanical properties; Metakaolin; Moisture absorption; Mortars (material); physical-chemical treatments; Polymers; Polyvinyl alcohol; Portland cements; Rainforests; Reinforced concrete; Water treatment; Wetting; Brazil; Amazon Basin; physical-chemical treatments; amazon rainforest natural fibers; mechanical properties; fiber reinforced cement mortars
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma14010155

The addition of natural fibers used as reinforcement has great appeal in the construction materials industry since natural fibers are cheaper, biodegradable, and easily available. In this work, we analyzed the feasibility of using the fibers of piassava, tucum palm, razor grass, and jute from the Amazon rainforest as reinforcement in mortars, exploiting the mechanical properties of compressive and flexural strength of samples with 1.5%, 3.0%, and 4.5% mass addition of the composite binder (50% Portland cement + 40% metakaolin + 10% fly ash). The mortars were reinforced with untreated (natural) and treated (hot water treatment, hornification, 8% NaOH solution, and hybridization) fibers, submitted to two types of curing (submerged in water, and inflated with CO in a pressurized autoclave) for 28 days. Mortars without fibers were used as a reference. For the durability study, the samples were submitted to 20 drying/wetting cycles. The fibers improved the flexural strength of the mortars and prevented the abrupt rupture of the samples, in contrast to the fragile behavior of the reference samples. The autoclave cure increased the compressive strength of the piassava and tucum palm samples with 4.5% of fibers.