Mechanical properties of sisal,fibre reinforced concrete

Abstract

Reinforcement of brittle matrices with fibres of different kinds has been shown to improve the mechanical properties of these materials. In this study, mechanical properties of sisal fibre reinforced concrete were examined using the Tensile test, and the Four-point bending test.The Flexural strength, Tensile strength, To~ghness and the Interfacial bond strength were examined.Two forms of reinforcements were examined under varying volume fractions. These were, parallel fibre reinforcement with uniaxial fibres aligned in the direction of the stress field, and chopped fibres randomly reinforced in the matrix. Sisal fibre reinforcement was shown to improve some of the mechanical proper~ies examined. The Flexural strength and the Tensile strength were seen to increase considerably with fibre volume fractions for parallel fibre reinforcement. No increase in Flexural and Tensile strengths was observed for the chopped fibres reinforcement. Toughness was observed to increase considerably with fibre volume fractions in all cases except for chopped fibres reinforced samples tested in tension. During failure, fibre pull-out was observed and the composites behaved in a ductile manner with the fibres being able to sustain some load even when cracks had developed fully across the specimen.