Applicability of the Waste Fibres in Cement Paste

Abstract

Fibres produced from waste catalyst together with commercially available polypropylene fibres were incorporated into ordinary Portland cement paste. The effects of fibre content as well as a mix of different type of fibres on mechanical and physical properties of wet and dry samples were investigated. The results showed that presence of fibres reduced compressive strength of the plain cement in wet and dry state. Contrary, when the combination of 1.5 wt% waste and 1.5 wt% polypropylene fibres was used flexural strength of cement mixture increased by up to 9 % at the age of 28 days. It was observed that addition of 1.5 wt% of only waste fibres improved flexural strength after long hydration period as well. However, the lowest mechanical strength results showed samples with 3 wt% of waste fibres. It was also observed that higher content of waste fibres reduced porosity of the cement mixture and consequently, decreased water absorption capacity. Presence of fibres reduced drying shrinkage of samples and they were lower than plain cement after 28 days of hydration.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.19.3.1992