Wood pulp as a potential raw material source for manufacturing bio-based building materials

Abstract

The application of bio-based material such as cellulose fibres derived from renewable source to cement mortars was investigated and the properties of fresh mixtures and hardened mortars were characterized. The mixtures composition consisted of combined addition of the selected kind of cellulose fibres (bleached wood pulp) and superplasticizer (polycarboxylate ester). The aim was to produce a cement mortar with the improved properties for indoor application. The 0.5 wt.% fibre addition (from weight of filler and binder) and superplasticizer dosage of 1% in the mixtures were used. Reference cement mortar did not contain cellulose fibre and superplasticizer. The comparative study of the fresh fibre cement mixture properties has been showed worse flowability behaviour of mixture with plasticizer, as expected. The the beneficial effect of the superplasticizer was not proven even on the compressive and flexural strength of fibre cement mortars after 7, 28 and 90 days of hardening. The performances of the mortars were dependent not only on fibres and superplasticizer nature but also on the organic/inorganic interface.