Effect of vegetable and synthetic fibers on mechanical performance and durability of Metakaolin-based mortars

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Abstract
The use of vegetable fibers has regained interest in different fields. In fact, fibers may represent an alternative to traditional fibers incorporated in building materials, such as polypropylene fibers. Sustainable development requires the adoption of ecofriendly and natural materials. In this approach, using vegetable fibers as reinforcement for cementitious materials represents an interesting option for concrete industry. Thus, this article studies mechanical performances and transfer properties of cementitious mortars reinforced with vegetable fibers. The used fibers were Dis (DS), Alfa (AF), Date palm (DP) and Hemp (HE). They were subjected to prior treatment with calcium hydroxide. The results show that reinforced mortars with vegetable fibers represent a better deformation capacity than the control mortar without fibers; the best bending strength was recorded for hemp and date palm mortars; the addition of vegetable fibers leads to thermal conductivity decrease by 15% for a content of 0.1%. However, greater carbonation depths were recorded for vegetable fibers based mixes. These findings, for us, are promising for the use of vegetable fibers in cementitious materials.

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