Is alfa a vegetal fiber suitable for making green reinforced structure concrete?

Abstract

Many studies showed the interest of reinforcing composite materials with biofibers in the last decade. Producing more eco-friendly concretes, replacing synthetic fibers with natural and less expensive materials, is the main reason supporting these studies. Numerous plants have been investigated to reinforce concrete among which alfa has not been considered yet whilst it is made of cellulosic natural fibers with interesting stiffness and strength properties. In addition it is abundant and widely distributed around the Mediterranean basin and it grows without watering or use of any amendment. This study investigates the potential of alfa fibers to produce a green concrete with suitable mechanical properties. The results show that the use of alfa fibers allow to obtain a concrete less expensive, more eco-friendly and better from the mechanical point of view than when using polypropylene fibers, which makes of alfa a good candidate to produce sustainable concrete and green buildings.