scholarly journals Geopolymers Reinforced with Natural Fibers: A Comparison among Different Sources

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 11026
Author(s):  
Andrea Saccani ◽  
Luisa Molari ◽  
Grazia Totaro ◽  
Stefania Manzi

The performance of different natural fibers (hemp, kenaf and bamboo) used to formulate composites with an alkali-activated matrix based on metakaolin is evaluated. Short fibers were randomly dispersed up to about 3% of the binder weight, and the fresh and cured properties of the derived composites were determined. Up to the investigated fraction, it is still possible to obtain adequate workability without the supply of additional water or additives. Upon modification with fibers, the mechanical behavior changes from completely brittle to pseudoplastic with increased toughness. The flexural strength increases by up to 80% at the highest bamboo amount and up to 20% for kenaf. Hemp fibers have a negligible effect on flexural strength but strongly improve the materials’ toughness. Moreover, the addition of fibers does not change the manner in which the material interacts with moisture. Indeed, the water uptake of the modified samples was comparable to that of the unmodified samples, and the composites showed a decreased rate of water diffusion as the amount of fiber increased.

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Régis Pamponet da Fonseca ◽  
Janaíde Cavalcante Rocha ◽  
Malik Cheriaf

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 CO2 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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 5317
Author(s):  
Rafał Malinowski ◽  
Aneta Raszkowska-Kaczor ◽  
Krzysztof Moraczewski ◽  
Wojciech Głuszewski ◽  
Volodymyr Krasinskyi ◽  
...  

The need for the development of new biodegradable materials and modification of the properties the current ones possess has essentially increased in recent years. The aim of this study was the comparison of changes occurring in poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) due to its modification by high-energy electron beam derived from a linear electron accelerator, as well as the addition of natural fibers in the form of cut hemp fibers. Changes to the fibers structure in the obtained composites and the geometrical surface structure of sample fractures with the use of scanning electron microscopy were investigated. Moreover, the mechanical properties were examined, including tensile strength, elongation at break, flexural modulus and impact strength of the modified PCL. It was found that PCL, modified with hemp fibers and/or electron radiation, exhibited enhanced flexural modulus but the elongation at break and impact strength decreased. Depending on the electron radiation dose and the hemp fibers content, tensile strength decreased or increased. It was also found that hemp fibers caused greater changes to the mechanical properties of PCL than electron radiation. The prepared composites exhibited uniform distribution of the dispersed phase in the polymer matrix and adequate adhesion at the interface between the two components.


2015 ◽  
Vol 801 ◽  
pp. 188-193
Author(s):  
Dumitru Bolcu ◽  
Marius Marinel Stănescu ◽  
Cosmin Mihai Miriţoiu ◽  
Cristian Oliviu Burada

In this paper we have studied the vibration damping for composite bars made by dammar based natural resin, the reinforcement being made by flax, cotton, silk and hemp fibers. There were made rectangular section samples (5x10 mm) with 220 mm length. The bars were clamped, the free length being 100 mm, 120 mm, 140 mm, 160 mm and 180 mm. For each bar, the free vibrations made by an initial deformation, obtained by inserting an external force in the free end, were recorded. In each case, the measured vibration was under-damped.


2020 ◽  
pp. 129-146
Author(s):  
Navasingh Rajesh Jesudoss Hynes ◽  
Ramakrishnan Sankaranarayanan ◽  
Jegadeesaperumal Senthil Kumar ◽  
Sanjay Mavinkere Rangappa ◽  
Suchart Siengchin

2011 ◽  
Vol 415-417 ◽  
pp. 666-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Na Lu ◽  
Shubhashini Oza ◽  
Ian Ferguson

Natural fiber reinforced composites are being used as reinforcement material in composite system due to their positive environmental benefits. Added to that, natural fibers offer advantages such as low density, low cost, good toughness, high specific strength, relatively non-abrasive and wide availability. However, the low thermal stability of natural fibers is one of the major challenges to increase their use as reinforcing component. In this study, a thorough investigation has been done to compare the effect of two chemical treatment methods on the thermal stability of hemp fibers. 5wt% sodium hydroxide and 5wt% triethoxyvinylsilane was used for the treatment of hemp fibers. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and thermo gravimetric analysis were used for characterization of untreated and treated fiber. The results indicated that 24 hours alkali treatment and 3 hours silane treatment time enhanced the thermal stability of the hemp fiber. However, alkali treatment shows better improvement compared to silane treatment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 773 ◽  
pp. 94-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venitalitya Augustia ◽  
Achmad Chafidz ◽  
Lucky Setyaningsih ◽  
Muhammad Rizal ◽  
Mujtahid Kaavessina ◽  
...  

The trend of using natural fibers as green filler in the fabrication of polymer composites is increasing. One of these natural fibers is date palm fiber (DPF). Date palm fiber is considered as agricultural waste in certain areas, such as Middle East countries. Therefore, the utilization of this fiber in the composites fabrication is an interesting topic of research. In the current study, composites were prepared by melt blending DPF with high density polyethylene (HDPE). Five different DPF loadings were studied (i.e. 0, 5, 10, 20, 30 wt%). The effect of the DPF loadings on the mechanical properties and water absorption behavior of the composites were investigated. The tensile test result showed that tensile strengths of all the composites samples were all higher than the neat HDPE with the maximum improvement was achieved at the DPF loading of 5 wt% (i.e. DFC-5), which was about 19.23 MPa (138% higher than the neat HDPE). Whereas, the flexural test result showed that the flexural strength of the composites slightly increased compared to that of the neat HDPE only until 5 wt% DPF loading (i.e. DFC-5). Afterward, the flexural strength of the DFC-10 was equal to that of the neat HDPE, and decreasing with further increase of DPF loadings. Additionally, the water absorption test result showed that the water absorption rate and uptake of water (at equilibrium) increased with the increase of DPF loading.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1844
Author(s):  
Aurelio Bifulco ◽  
Brigida Silvestri ◽  
Jessica Passaro ◽  
Luca Boccarusso ◽  
Valentina Roviello ◽  
...  

Natural fibers such as kenaf, hemp, flax, jute, and sisal have become the subject of much research as potential green or eco-friendly reinforcement composites, since they assure the reduction of weight, cost, and CO2 release with less reliance on oil sources. Herein, an inexpensive and eco-friendly waterglass treatment is proposed, allowing the production of silica-coated fibers that can be easily obtained in micro/nano fibrils through a low power mixer. The silica coating has been exploited to improve the chemical compatibility between fibers and the polymer matrix through the reaction of silanol groups with suitable coupling agents. In particular, silica-coated fibers easily functionalized with (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTS) were used as a filler in the manufacturing of epoxy-based composites. Morphological investigation of the composites through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) demonstrated that the filler has a tendency to produce a web-like structure, formed by continuously interconnected fibrils and microfibrils, from which particularly effective mechanical properties may be obtained. Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) shows that the functionalized fibers, in a concentration of 5 wt%, strongly affect the glass transformation temperature (10 °C increase) and the storage modulus of the pristine resin. Taking into account the large number of organosilicon compounds (in particular the alkoxide ones) available on the market, the new process appears to pave the way for the cleaner and cheaper production of biocomposites with different polymeric matrices and well-tailored interfaces.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 4801
Author(s):  
Yasir Khaleel Kirmasha ◽  
Mohaiman J. Sharba ◽  
Zulkiflle Leman ◽  
Mohamed Thariq Hameed Sultan

Fiber composites are known to have poor through-thickness mechanical properties due to the absence of a Z-direction binder. This issue is more critical with the use of natural fibers due to their low strength compared to synthetic fibers. Stitching is a through-thickness toughening method that is used to introduce fibers in the Z-direction, which will result in better through-thickness mechanical properties. This research was carried out to determine the mechanical properties of unstitched and silk fiber-stitched woven kenaf-reinforced epoxy composites. The woven kenaf mat was stitched with silk fiber using a commercial sewing machine. The specimens were fabricated using a hand lay-up method. Three specimens were fabricated, one unstitched and two silk-stitched with deferent stitching orientations. The results show that the stitched specimens have comparable in-plane mechanical properties to the unstitched specimens. For the tensile mechanical test, stitched specimens show similar and 17.1% higher tensile strength compared to the unstitched specimens. The flexural mechanical test results show around a 9% decrease in the flexural strength for the stitched specimens. On the other hand, the Izod impact mechanical test results show a significant improvement of 33% for the stitched specimens, which means that stitching has successfully improved the out-of-plane mechanical properties. The outcome of this research indicates that the stitched specimens have better mechanical performance compared to the unstitched specimens and that the decrease in the flexural strength is insignificant in contrast with the remarkable enhancement in the impact strength.


2013 ◽  
Vol 357-360 ◽  
pp. 705-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Zhou ◽  
Yong Sheng Ji ◽  
Zheng Chang ◽  
Chan Zhang ◽  
Xing Tong Yan

In order to use the alkaline ingredient in red mud, this paper studied the strength variation law of alkali-activated red mud and lime cement material combined with slag. When the content ranged from 0 wt% to 20 wt%, the experiment showed that the flexural strength increased when the content increased, and the compress strength increased when the content increased with the content ranging from 0 wt% to 15 wt%. When the content reached 25 wt%, the strength of alkali-activated red mud cement material was equal with alkali activated slag cement. The SEM test of alkali-activated red mud cement material showed that red mud and lime both participated in hydration reaction fully.


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