Effectiveness of new natural fibers on damage-mechanical performance of mortar

Mechanical-Damage Behavior of Mortars Reinforced with Recycled Polypropylene Fibers

“…Dosages of commercially available polypropylene fibers usually vary between 4 and 9 kg/m 3 in weight and between 0.4% and 1% in volume [27]. This study selected dosages ranging from 2 to 8 kg/m 3 , which is similar to the range suggested for commercially available polypropylene fibers and equivalent to the range suggested in a previous study [18] addressing the effectiveness of a new natural fiber that morphologically was similar to the RPFs presented in this study. Table 4 presents the main information of the specimens confectioned for each mortar mix defined in Table 3.…”

“…Since fracture toughness of mortars is expected to be enhanced with incorporation of fibers [38], several studies (e.g., [17][18][19]) have suggested the implementation of the impact test to assess the impact strength of cement-based mortars to absorb damage. This study used an experimental setup that consists of a metallic supporting base for the slab specimens (30 cm distance between supports) and a metallic projectile that was thrown at the center of the slab specimens at increasing height levels (from 5 to 90 cm every 5 cm).…”

“…In particular, the polypropylene production represents approximately 20% of the total plastic production of the European Community in 2018 and, currently, polypropylene presents the largest consumption growing rates among plastics [14]. In terms of fibers, the production of polypropylene fibers reached approximately 6 million metric tons in 2010 [15] and as 79% of the total worldwide plastic production ends up in landfill or disposed in our environment [16], most of these 6 million metric tons of polypropylene fiber will not be recycled, affecting our environment.Combining the significant environmental impacts of cement-based materials and the impacts derived from the production of industrialized fibers, it is easy to understand why the use of alternative and more environmentally friendly fibers have attracted more attention in the research materials community [17,18] that is moving towards a more sustainable construction industry. Recently, there have been studies addressing the use of fibers from vegetal origin (e.g., [19,20]), animal origin (e.g., [21]), and waste-based plastic origin (e.g., [22]) in cement-based materials.…”

“…Combining the significant environmental impacts of cement-based materials and the impacts derived from the production of industrialized fibers, it is easy to understand why the use of alternative and more environmentally friendly fibers have attracted more attention in the research materials community [17,18] that is moving towards a more sustainable construction industry. Recently, there have been studies addressing the use of fibers from vegetal origin (e.g., [19,20]), animal origin (e.g., [21]), and waste-based plastic origin (e.g., [22]) in cement-based materials.…”

Eco-bricks: a sustainable substitute for construction materials

“…Density, filler content, thermal shrinkage, elastic modulus and deformation recovery capacity of Eco-bricks are studied and its performance is compared with similar construction materials used nowadays. The use of cardboard and tetrapack as construction materials is also a novel inclusion of this work that so far has been limited compared to other types of sustainable construction materials (Araya-letelier, Antico, Carrasco, Rojas, & García-herrera, 2017;Araya-Letelier, Antico, Parra, & Carrasco, 2017;Barros & Imhoff, 2010;Cataldo-Born, Araya-Letelier, & Pabón, 2016;Martínez, Etxeberria, Pavón, & Díaz, 2016;Siddique, Khatib, & Kaur, 2008;Soloaga, Oshiro, & Positieri, 2014). Overall, the authors suggest that Ecobricks filled with a single inorganic waste type could work efficiently as a construction material while preserving in a separate container a single inorganic material that eventually could be recovered when other ways of adding value or recycling would be available.…”