Experimental investigation of cement mortar reinforced with natural fibers

Abstract

The big demand of energy in the building is one of several factors that have an impact on our life and environment. One of the promising alternatives to this problem is the thermal insulation of building with the use of biomaterials from vegetal and agriculture waste. These biomaterials need low energy consumption for their production, reduce CO2 emission and are renewable materials. In this work, several samples constituted with cements, sand and reinforced with a several concentration (from 5 wt. % to 30 wt. %) and size of date palm fibers (DPF) were prepared. Compressive strength and thermal conductivity measurement were conducted on these biomaterial samples. The results showed that the compressive strength and thermal conductivity decrease with the increase of DPF content. An optimal composition of this bioconcrete was find taking into account mechanical and thermal properties according RILEM classification. Finally, we have shown that our material may be great potential for use as an insulating material with favorable compression strength in the field of construction, as it can also improve the comfort level and participate to solve the problem initially noted.