Performance Comparison Between Synthetic and Natural Fiber Reinforced Wood Ash Cement Composite Pastes

Fibers use in cement-based composites have drawn interest of scientific community due to its contribution to flexural performance and other engineering properties. Contribution to environmental impact is considered as minor but cost of these materials is the major challenge for the production of cost-effective approaches. Polypropylene fiber (PF) and dog hair (DH) were used to, proportion of 0.25% of total binder content, in this study to reinforce cement pastes produced with Portland cement (PC) and wood ash (WA) cements. WA was used to replace PC with proportions of 5 and 10% in aiming to promote cleaner production. Composite pastes were tested for slump, flow table, fresh and hardened densities, compressive and flexural strengths. Environmental and economic sustainability of composites pastes were further investigated. Results suggest that engineering properties were influenced by chemical and physical aspects of the materials used. PF and DH utilized WA cement pastes had lower fresh properties. Strength values were improved at 14d and beyond through pozzolanic reactions. Synthetic and natural fibers had quite similar performances. Results also suggest that both PF and DH could be used to promote sustainable approaches.