Flexural, tensile and interfacial bond test results for sisal fiber-reinforced RHAC mortar composites.pdf

The effects of fiber content on tensile, flexural and interfacial bond strength of sisal fiber-reinforced rice-husk ash cement (RHAC) mortar were studied. The composite fabrication process involved mixing, hand-laying of the fiber-reinforcement, compaction and curing. The specimens were subjected to flexural, and direct tensile test in varying fiber volume fractions and orientation. The results show that the flexural and tensile strength increases by 342.45% and 295.01% respectively for continuous parallel aligned sisal fiber-reinforced RHAC, and by 152.99% and 195.8% respectively for the 30mm discontinuous randomly distributed sisal fiber-reinforced RHAC compared to the unreinforced (standard control) specimens The fiber/matrix interfacial bond strength and the average crack spacing decreased with increasing fiber additions in both composites.