Abstract
Geopolymer composites are “green” alternative to the traditional cementitious materials. They have good compressive strength, durability and other properties such as highly resistant to flame and heat and corrosion resistance. However, these composites have relatively low tensile and flexural strength, which limits their use in many areas, especially in construction industry. This paper describes possibilities to improve this mechanical properties by fibre addition. The study is intended to analyse the influence of addition of various raffia fibres on the mechanical properties of the geopolymer based on fly ash. The empirical part of the research was based on the compressive strength tests, flexural strength tests and detailed microstructure examination. The samples were prepared using sodium promoter and raffia fibres (the 1% by mass of the composite). The research involved the samples reinforced by raffia and artificial fibre—PP (polyprophylene) for comparison. PP is the traditional additive for building materials such a cement. The results show the possibility to produce the composites of reasonable properties from the industrial wastes (fly ash) and renewable resources—raffia fibres, which makes them a new class of environmentally friendly materials.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding by National Centre for Research and Development, Poland, under grants “Development of eco-friendly composite materials based on geopolymer matrix and reinforced with waste fibers” under the ERANet-LAC: Latin America, Caribbean and European Union funded by the European Commission, within the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technology Development (FP7), Topic#02: Waste management, recycling and urban mining (project no. ELAC2015/T02-0721).
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Korniejenko, K., Łach, M., Mikuła, J. (2018). Mechanical Properties of Raffia Fibres Reinforced Geopolymer Composites. In: Fangueiro, R., Rana, S. (eds) Advances in Natural Fibre Composites. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64641-1_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64641-1_13
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