In this study, a sustainable mortar mixture is developed using renewable by-products for the enhancement of mechanical properties and fracture behavior. A high-volume of fly ash—a by-product of coal combustion—is used to replace Portland cement while waste by-products from the production of engineered bamboo composite materials are used to obtain bamboo fibers and to improve the fracture toughness of the mixture. The bamboo process waste was ground and size-fractioned by sieving. Several mixes containing different amounts of fibers were prepared for mechanical and fracture toughness assessment, evaluated via bending tests. The addition of bamboo fibers showed insignificant losses of strength, resulting in mixtures with compressive strengths of 55 MPa and above. The bamboo fibers were able to control crack propagation and showed improved crack-bridging effects with higher fiber volumes, resulting in a strain-softening behavior and mixture with higher toughness. The results of this study show that the developed bamboo fiber-reinforced mortar mixture is a promising sustainable and affordable construction material with enhanced mechanical properties and fracture toughness with the potential to be used in different structural applications, especially in developing countries.
In this paper, a protocol for interpretation of static creep tests on closed-cell polyurethane foams is defined, considering the influence of a finite loading duration when identifying creep compliance parameters. Experiments were conducted at isothermal conditions with temperatures ranging from 20 to 120 °C. The experimental results indicate Lomnitz, i.e., logarithmic-type creep behavior. We discuss uniqueness of the backcalculated parameters. Furthermore, the viscoelastic material parameters obtained were verified in independent experiments: elastic compliance by ultrasonic wave velocity measurements, viscous material parameters by relaxation tests.
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