Exploring the use of cement based materials reinforced with sustainable fibres for structural applications

Abstract

This section presents some construction applications where sustainable fibres (both natural and from tire recycling industry) are used as fundamental or complementary reinforcement of cement based materials. Recent significant advances have been achieved on the enhancement of durability performance of natural (also currently designated by vegetable) fibres for the reinforcement of cement based matrices, and research efforts have been demonstrating the reinforcement performance of RSF as well. Because of this, and of the increasing concern of the society on the aspects affecting detrimentally the environmental conditions, a new phase seems to appear in the scientific and technical communities dedicated to explore the use of cementitious composites reinforced with different kinds of sustainable fibres for structural applications by demonstrating their economic and technical advantages.