Abstract
Cement is one of the mostly used construction materials due to its high durability and low cost, but it suffers from brittle fracture and facile crack initiation. This article describes the use of naturally-derived renewable cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) to reinforce cement. The effects of CNFs on the mechanical properties, degree of hydration (DOH), and microstructure of cement pastes have been studied. It is found that an addition of 0.15% by weight of CNFs leads to a 15% and 20% increase in the flexural and compressive strengths of cement paste. The enhancement in mechanical strength is attributed to high DOH and dense microstructure of cement pastes after adding CNFs.
Highlights
Cement composite is one of the mostly used construction materials, but the use of cement based material in dams and long-span bridges is limited due to its brittleness [1,2,3]
Effect of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) fraction on the early hydration interaction of cement particles Cellulose nanofibers are isolated from wood using a combined tetramethylpiperidine1-oxyl radical (TEMPO) oxidation and homogenization approach [32,33,34]
The results indicate that the degree of hydration (DOH) of cement pastes improves regardless of aging time
Summary
Cement composite is one of the mostly used construction materials, but the use of cement based material in dams and long-span bridges is limited due to its brittleness [1,2,3]. A variety of fibers have been added into cement composites to improve their tensile strength, toughness, and energy absorption capacity [4,5,6,7], these fibers are limited for poor interface, low corrosion resistance, and high cost, etc. Natural fibers have been used to improve the mechanical properties of cement composites. The use of the naturally-derived fibers minimizes carbon footprint of infrastructural materials, - provide excellent mechanical properties at low cost [13,14]. There are some issues related to natural fibers in cement composites Fiber components such as lignin, hemicelluloses, pectin, and soluble sugars degrade in the alkali cement environment, leading to low durability [20,21,22]. It is reasonable to postulate that the mechanical properties of cement composites will be further improved if the selected natural fibers have
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