WITHDRAWN: An experimental investigation of thermocol impregnated ferrocement panel as an alternate building material

Abstract

Ferrocement is a composite material and widely used for the manufacturing of aircraft hangar, boats, marine structures, light roofs etc. The application of ferrocement is numerous and due to its flexibility and durability, it gains the popularity day by day. It is a prefabricated composite and can be molded in any shape. Also, it is a flexible material and has good resistance against thermal and vibrations. Due to this ferrocement is most suitable for structures having curved surfaces such as boat, shell, domes, water tanks etc. It is cost effective and requires low maintenance. Ferrocement generally consists of thin steel wire meshes enclosed by cementitious materials. Different design of ferrocement is proposed in the past in which various layers of steel meshes and different type of cementitious materials are used. However, further improvement in its design is still going on. Sometimes in the manufacturing of ferrocement a core material which increases its resistance against impact and heat is placed. In the present research, a core material thermocol has been used in the construction of ferrocement and termed as ‘thermocol impregnated ferrocement’. The present paper describes the experimental investigation carried out to understand the behavior of thermocol impregnated ferrocement panels with different layers of meshes.