Impact of leaf fibre modification methods on compatibility between leaf fibres and cement-based materials

Abstract

To make effective use of plant leaves as an environment-friendly heat-insulating building material, our research group has tested five poplar leaf modification methods to improve compatibility between leaf fibres and cement-based materials. The work involved testing water absorption of before and after modification of leaf fibres, the setting time and hydration heat of the fibre–cement paste, and analysed the mechanisms and effect of fibre modification methods on compatibility between fibres and cement-based materials. The results show that processing of fibres with surface coating and dipping methods improved compatibility between fibres and cement-based materials to some extent and in different aspects. Overall, the following three methods gave superior performance: pure acrylic polymer emulsion spraying, sodium silicate solution spraying and water dipping.