Experimental Investigation of Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Clay Reinforced with Typha australis: Influence of Length and Percentage of Fibers

Abstract

This study presents the elaboration and characterization of a composite material based on Typha australis and clay for the use of an innovative building material in construction. For this purpose, various percentages ranging from 0 to 55% with a pitch of 15 were used. The aim is to find a better compromise between the thermal and mechanical properties of this composite material. According to this, the influence of the length of the 1 cm and 3 cm fibers was studied. As Typha australis is very porous, the hydric properties of the material studied in this work show that its porosity increases the rate of water absorption following a logarithmic law and the mass loss of the composite material evolves exponentially as a function of time. The mass increases when the percentage of fibers is low. The thermophysical property of Typha australis is 0.06 W/m K. That property allows us to state that Typha australis can be used for thermal insulation. The thermophysical properties of the composite material show that the thermal conductivity decreases as the percentage and length of fibers increase. In fact, the thermal conductivity of the clay is 1.03 W/m K while the mixture of clay with 55% of 1 cm fibers gave a thermal conductivity of 0.146 W/m K. The mixture of clay with the same percentage of 3 cm fibers gave a thermal conductivity of 0.113 W/m K. Nevertheless, the fibers have a negative effect on the mechanical properties and the increase in the length of the fibers improves the flexural strength.