Analysis of long unidirectional sisal fibers reinforced plaster: An experimental investigation

Abstract

Vegetable fibers extracted from renewable and biodegradable sources, are increasingly used in recent years. This Paper focuses on the optimization of flexural strength of plaster reinforced with long unidirectional sisal fibers. Mechanical properties of fiber and composite material were investigated. Fibers were manually extracted from sisal leaf’s in order to avoid the property’s damage. Samples (40 × 40 × 160 mm) with fiber volume fraction and fibers length varying between respectively 0 to 1.04 % and 40 to 140 mm are prepared to measure its bending strength. Experimental conditions and measurements were performed under atmospheric conditions. Results show that the best flexural strength is obtained for 120 mm fiber length and 0.78% fiber volume fraction, corresponding to an increase of 15% in strength. A mathematical modeling was conducted by applying the ROM and IROM models and it was found that experimental results were confirmed by IROM model.