The Properties of Cement Mortar Reinforced by Pistachio Shells Fibre
Pistachio shells (PS) are one of the agricultural wastes, that are considered as economic and wide available material. It has some features that encourage using it to produce lightweight concrete and cement mortar. The essential objective of the current investigation is to evaluate the possibility of incorporating PS as a fibre in the cement mortar and the effect on its properties. Four different fibre percentages (0%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% by volume of cement) were examined. After curing the samples for 7 and 28 days, the fundamental properties of the cement mortars, including splitting tensile and compressive strengths I addition to the density, were determined and compared. The results revealed that the optimum content of the pistachio shells fibre lies between 0.5% and 1% where the splitting tensile and compressive strengths increased and the mortar’s density reduced at age of 28 days.