Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128

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Construction and Building Materials

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Review

Cellulosic ber reinforced cement-based composites: A review of recent

research
Mnica Ardanuy a,, Josep Claramunt b, Romildo Dias Toledo Filho c
a
Departament dEnginyeria Txtil i Paperera, Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya Barcelona TECH, C/Colom, 11, E-08222 Terrassa, Spain
b
Departament dEnginyeria Agroalimentria i Biotecnologia, Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya Barcelona TECH, Avinguda del Canal Olmpic, 15, E-08860 Castelldefels, Spain
c
Department of Civil Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPE/UFRJ), P.O. Box 68506, 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

h i g h l i g h t s

 Summarizing the latest research on vegetable ber cement-based composites.

 Reviewing the bers used, procedures, mechanical performance and durability.
 Durable cement composites with optimized bermatrix adhesion have been developed.
 Best performance with vegetable ber textile reinforcements.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the last few years, an increase in interest has been given to the use of cellulose bers as alternatives for
Received 16 July 2014 conventional reinforcements in composites. The development of commercially viable environmentally
Received in revised form 12 December 2014 friendly and healthy materials based on natural resources is on the rise. In this sense, cellulosic bers as rein-
Accepted 4 January 2015
forcements for cement mortar composites constitute a very interesting option for the construction industry.
This paper presents a review of the research done during the last years in the area of the cement-based
composites reinforced with cellulose bers. The bers used, processing methods, mechanical behavior
Keywords:
and durability are presented. The main achievements found have been the development of durable cement
Cellulosic bers
Cement-based composites
composites with optimized bermatrix adhesion. Moreover, the recently developed textile composites
Composite processing will allow obtaining high performance materials reinforced with vegetable bers.
Mechanical properties 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Durability

Contents

1. Introduction: the role of cellulosic fibers as reinforcement in cement matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

2. Cellulose fibers used as reinforcement in cement-based composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
3. Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
3.1. Composites reinforced by fibers randomly dispersed in the matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
3.2. Composites reinforced by aligned fibers or fibrous structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4. Mechanical behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4.1. Composites reinforced with pulp fibers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4.2. Reinforced by long fibers and textile structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5. Cellulosic fiber-cement matrix bonding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6. Methods for improving durability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.1. Modifying the matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.2. Modifying the fibers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7. Concluding remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 93 739 81 58; fax: +34 93 739 81 01.
E-mail addresses: monica.ardanuy@upc.edu (M. Ardanuy), josep.claramunt@
upc.edu (J. Claramunt), toledo@coc.ufrj.br (R.D. Toledo Filho).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.01.035
0950-0618/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
116 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128

1. Introduction: the role of cellulosic bers as reinforcement in of such composites in building. Cellulosic bers provide adequate
cement matrices stiffness, strength and bonding capacity to cement-based matrices
for substantial enhancement of their exural strength, toughness
Over the last few years, problems related to environmental and impact resistance [911]. Moreover, these bers can reduce
issues have motivated extensive research on environmentally the free plastic shrinkage [12]; decrease the thermal conductivity
friendly materials. Particular interest has been given to the use of [13] and improve the acoustic performance increasing the sound
bers obtained from renewable vegetable sources in composite absorption and the specic damping and the density of the com-
materials [14]. A combination of interesting mechanical and posite [14].
physical properties and their environmental benets has been Despite all the aforementioned advantages, the industrial pro-
the main driver for their use as alternatives for conventional duction of cement-based composites reinforced with VF is cur-
reinforcements. rently limited by the long-term durability of these materials. The
Vegetable or cellulose bers (VF) exhibit a set of important durability problem is associated with an increase in ber fracture
advantages, such as wide availability at relatively low cost, bio- and a decrease in ber pull-out due to a combination of the weak-
renewability, ability to be recycled, biodegradability, non-hazard- ening of the bers by alkali attack, ber mineralization due to the
ous nature, zero carbon footprint, and interesting physical and migration of hydration products to lumens, and space and volume
mechanical properties (low density and well-balanced stiffness, variation due to their high water absorption [1518]. This causes
toughness and strength) [5,6]. Vegetable bers can be found in a the material to have a reduction in post-cracking strength and
wide variety of morphologies diameter, aspect ratio, length, toughness.
and surface roughness and form mainly strands, pulp or staple The role of cellulosic bers as reinforcement lies in combining
(see Fig. 1). Moreover, their surface can be easily modied in order in an adequate manner the proper interfacial bond between the
to have a more hydrophilic or hydrophobic character or to attach ber and the matrix as well as to ensure the durability of the
functional groups [4]. material.
Although brittle building materials have been reinforced with In this paper we present a review of the research done during
vegetable bers since ancient times, the concept of VF reinforce- the last years (20002013) in the area of the cement-based com-
ment in cement-based materials was developed in 1940s, when posites reinforced with cellulose bers. The bers used, processing
these bers were evaluated as potential substitutes for asbestos methods, mechanical behavior and durability are presented.
bers [7]. Since then, considerable effort has been made toward
the application of VF as a reinforcing material for the production
of building components at low cost. Nowadays, the need for sus- 2. Cellulose bers used as reinforcement in cement-based
tainable, energy efcient construction materials has oriented composites
extensive research on alternative materials to produce environ-
mentally friendly construction products. Applications of VF cement Vegetable or cellulose bers are mainly composed of cellulose,
composites are basically addressed to the non-structural building with varying amounts of lignin and hemicelluloses and other
of thin walled materials, mainly thin-sheet products for partitions, minority components, such as water, proteins, peptides and inor-
building envelope or ceilings at sheets, roong tiles and pre- ganic compounds. All vascular plants which can be found in nature
manufactured components in general [8]. can be used as sources of cellulosic bers. However, the use of a
VF cement composites exhibit improved toughness, ductility, particular plant as a source of ber for a given application will
exural capacity and crack resistance compared with non- depend on their availability and cost of extraction [19].
ber-reinforced cement-based materials. The major advantage of According to their origin and composition, cellulosic bers are
ber reinforcement is the behavior of the composite after cracking classied as non-wood and wood bers. Wood bers are also
has started, as the bers bridge the matrix cracks and transfer the known as lignocellulosic bers because they have a higher lignin
loads. The post cracking toughness may allow more intensive use content than non-wood bers. The non-wood bers can be

Fig. 1. Images of vegetable bers in different forms: (a) strands, (b) staple, and (c) pulp.
 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128 117

Fig. 2. Scheme of the Hatschek process.

classied into four main groups: depending on the part of the plant pulp [8,2123] and eucalyptus pulp [8,21,23,2529] with percent-
used to extract the bers: bast bers (hemp, jute, kenaf, ax, ramie ages in the range of 410 wt% to reinforced Portland cement matri-
and others), leaf bers (sisal, henequen, pineapple, oil palm leaf ces. Mohr and co-workers have also worked with pinus pulp
bers, banana, and others), stalk bers (straws as rice, wheat obtained from chemical and thermo-mechanical treatments with
and barley; reeds as bamboo and grass as esparto and elephant percentages around 4 wt%.
grass) and seed bers (cotton, coir, and others) [2,20]. Another important source of pulp bers used to reinforce com-
Wood bers are grouped depending on their origin, into soft- posites is sisal [9,11,18,21,22,27,3032]. Sisal is a crop plant which
wood bers (obtained from pines, rs, etc.) and hardwood bers is a very abundant and cheap source of bers. Pulps from banana
(from the birch tree, eucalyptus, beech, etc.) [19]. [21,26,27,30], que [7,33], cotton linters [34] and agricultural
Apart from its origin, the reinforcements based on cellulose waste [35] have been also successfully used to prepare cement-
bers can be classied by the function of their form. Thus, cellulose based composites.
bers can be found as strands (long bers with lengths between Apart from short bers in the form of pulp, other studies
around 20 and 100 cm), staple bers (short length bers which reported the preparation and characterization of cementitious
can be spun into yarns), or pulp (very short bers of lengths around composites with coir bers [11,12,33,38], malva [36], jute, or hemp
110 mm which should be dispersed into water to separate them) in staple or ock form [37].
(Fig. 2). The physical properties of the main pulps used are presented on
The strands or staple bers are obtained from crop or wild Table 2. As can be seen, their properties depend not only on the
plants directly from the plants or after a water retting process. In ber source also on the pulping process used to obtain the bers.
this group are included cellulose bers traditionally used by the In general terms the mechanical behavior of the composite will
textile industry which are characterized by its high aspect ratio depend on the ber type, length, diameter, aspect ratio and texture
and low linear mass. of the bers [35]. The use of pulped bers facilitates two-dimen-
The pulps are generally obtained from wood sources by a pul- sional and homogeneous distribution of the bers in the cementi-
ping process. Depending on the treatment used to destroy or tious matrix. It is because this, the use of pulp in comparison to use
weaken the inter-ber bonds the pulping processes can be of short of ock bers form results in better bermatrix bond an
mechanical, thermal, chemical or some combination of these treat- greater reinforcing efciency [39].
ments. Pulps can also be obtained from non-wood sources [19]. Finally, only a few works use continuous reinforcement in the
The physicalchemical properties of the vegetable bers often form of ber strands. As far as we know, the only reported work
depend on the sources, cultivation and harvesting methods and with long bers have been made by Toledo Filho and co-workers
processing, as well as its form. [4046]. In this case it is possible to perform a structural reinforce-
Composites reinforced with bers are usually classied as Fiber ment and the mechanical properties of the composite are consider-
Reinforced Composites (FRC), which contain short bers staple or able improved.
pulp randomly dispersed into the matrix, and Textile Reinforced
Composites (TRC) which contain bers in the form of aligned
strands or textile structures, also known as structural composites. 3. Processing
The reinforcement capacity of FRC depends on the type of rein-
forcement and the amount of ber used, its geometry (length/ The nal properties of cellulose ber cement composites
thickness ratio), and its distribution and adhesion to the matrix. depend, aside from the ber and the matrix components, on the
In TRC the reinforcing ability depends also on the textile structure manufacturing process. The main goals to achieve in order to
used. The textile structures commonly used for reinforcing com- develop composites with well-balanced mechanical properties
posites are nonwoven fabrics or ber mats in which the bers are the following:
are randomly distributed woven fabrics or multidirectional
fabrics. (1) A homogeneous dispersion of the bers in the matrix.
As can be seen in Table 1, a wide variety of bers from different (2) A well-balanced interaction between the cement matrix and
forms and origins have been used to reinforce cementitious matri- the bers to allow ber pull-out.
ces. As shown, pulp is the most common ber form. This is because (3) A low porosity of the matrix.
cellulose pulps are a cheap raw material used generally by the (4) An optimized percentage of bers: enough to reinforce the
paper industry and can be easily dispersed in water, a basic com- material while allowing a continuity of the matrix.
ponent for the preparation of cementitious materials. The majority
of cellulosic pulps used to reinforce cement-based materials are The majority of the fabrication methods for cement composites
provided from wood resources and are obtained chemically (kraft reinforced with cellulose bers in the pulp form are based on the
pulp). For instance, experienced researchers in cement composites, Hatschek process, patented by Hatschek in 1900. It is a semi-
such as Savastano and co-workers have successfully used pinus continuous process comprised of three steps: sheet formation,
118 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128

Table 1
Cellulose bers used as reinforcement for cement composites.

Fiber source Fiber form wt% References

Softwood (pinus) Pulp (chemical-kraft) 412 [22,21]
10 [23,25,24]
1, 2, 3, 5 [8]
4 [47,16,48,17]
1, 3 [49]
114 [50]
5, 10, 15 [51]
8 [52]
07 [14]
4 [34]
Pulp (thermo-mechanical) 1, 3 [49]
3.5, 8 [10]
Paper sheets 2.5 [53]
Pulp (chemical-kraft) from waste 216 [13]
[5456]
Hardwood (eucalyptus) Pulp (chemical-kraft) 8 [30,21,26,27]
10 [23,25,41]
5 [29]
1, 2, 3, 5 [8]
24 [35]
Crop plant (bast ber): jute Strands (13152 cm) [37]
Crop plant (bast ber): hemp Strands (13152 cm) [37]
Crop plant (leaf ber): sisal Pulp (kraft) 412 [22,30,31,9,32,21,26,27]
Staple 4
[9,21]
[37]
Strands (1860 cm) 3 (v.)
10 (v.) [18,57,12,42,44,45,40,43,41,46]
Crop plant (leaf ber): Malva Staple 4 (v) [36]
Crop plant (leaf ber): banana Pulp (chemical-kraft) 8 [30]
4 [21,26,27]
Crop plant (leaf ber): Agave lechuguilla Staple [58]
Crop plant (leaf ber): que Pulp 3 [7]
2.5 [33]
Crop plant (seed ber): coir Staple 4 (v.) [36,37]
3 (v.) [11,12]
Mesh [11]
Pulp 2.5 [33]
Crop plant (seed ber): cotton linters Pulp 4 [34]
Agricultural Pulp 24 [35]
Waste: sugar cane stalk (mechanical)
Agricultural waste: wheat straw Pulp (mechanical) 24 [35]

Table 2
Physical properties of the pulps used to reinforce cement based composites.

Fiber type Process Length (mm) Width (lm) Aspect ratio References
Sisal Thermo-mechanical 2.25 10.2 221 [9]
Sisal Chemical-thermomechanical 2.46 12.7 194 [9]
Sisal (by-product) Chemical-thermomechanical 1.61 10.9 148 [9]
Sisal Kraft 1.65 13.5 122 [30]
Sisal Kraft 1.66 22.2 75 [32]
Sisal Kraft + beating 1.13 18.7 60 [32]
Sisal Kraft + geating 0.79 20 40 [32]
Pine Bleached kraft (surface treated) 2.94 31.4 94 [10]
Pine Kraft 3.05 32.4 94 [10]
Pine Kraft 2.7 29.3 92 [10]
Pine Kraft 2.73 32.5 84 [10]
Pine Kraft 2.97 34.1 87 [10]
Pine Kraft 2.70 30.7 88 [10]
Pine Kraft 2.93 32.6 90 [10]
Pine Chemical-thermomechanical 1.71 32.4 53 [21]
Pine Kraft 1.37 28 49 [34]
Banana Kraft 1.95 15.3 127 [30]
Banana Chemical-thermomechanical 1.99 20.1 99 [27]
Cotton linters Thermo-mechanical 0.79 20 40 [34]
Eucalyptus 0.83 16.4 51 [28]
Eucalyptus Kraft 0.66 10.9 61 [30]
Eucalyptus Pulping waste 1.12 480 2 [35]
Bagasse Pulping waste 1.303 348 4 [35]
Wheat Pulping waste 1.238 345 4 [35]
 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128 119

board formation, and curing. In the rst step, a conveyor belt is cast-in-place mix methodology with a 4% ber volume fraction. In
soaked in a mixture of fresh ber cement supplied by a roller from this methodology the pastes are prepared by rstly mixing the
a tank under continuous agitation. Using a vacuum system, a sig- pulp ber with water (approximately 50% water) and superplasti-
nicant portion of the mixing water is removed from the slurry, cizer. Subsequently, cement is added, and mixing continues to
forming a very thin sheet (about 1 mm). The board formation is allow uniform ber dispersion. In some cases, to improve the dis-
made in a large cylinder which receives the sheet from the previ- persion of the bers these were treated by a process with cationic
ous step and rolls up in successive layers until the required thick- starch and y ash.
ness is achieved. Following this, a guillotine cuts the boards and Toledo Filho and co-workers [11,12,18] also used the casting
deposites them on a press to compress and mold the board to methodology to prepare cement reinforced composites with short
the desired shape. Finally, the boards are cured under air or steam sisal and coconut bers. In this case, after casting, a conventional
conditions -autoclave- (Fig. 2). These processes produce compos- vibration table is used.
ites with an adequate percentage of bers well dispersed into the Finally, Soroushian et al. [51] used the extrusion procedure to
matrix. prepare cellulose pulp cement composites with up to 8 wt% bers.
The procedures for preparing cellulose cement composites These authors used a laboratory-scale de-airing ceramic extruder
reported in literature can be divided into two main groups, which allowed the production of at specimens with 60 mm width
depending on the ber form: bers randomly dispersed in the and 8 mm thickness. This process allows the alignment of the
matrix, and aligned bers or brous structures. bers in the extruder direction generating higher reinforcement
capacity.
3.1. Composites reinforced by bers randomly dispersed in the matrix
3.2. Composites reinforced by aligned bers or brous structures
Coutts and Savastano and co-workers [7,9,2125,2831] suc-
cessfully used a variation of the Hatschek process (the slurry vac- Other authors, taking into account the limitations of the rein-
uum de-watering technique) to prepare cement composites with forcement capacity of the pulp or short bers randomly dispersed
pulp ber mass fractions of around 8 wt% (approximately 10% by in the matrix, have been developing other manufacturing pro-
volume content). In this technique the matrix materials are stirred, cesses for semi-nished products, such as aligned bers, sheets
with the appropriate amount of ber dispersed in water, to form a or nonwovens, which can allow a higher level of enforcement
slurry with approximately 20% solid materials. Then the slurry is under exural or tensile work.
transferred to a drilled mold and a vacuum is applied as can be In this sense, Toledo Filho and co-workers [4046] have
seen in Fig. 3. Afterward, the board is pressed until it has a thick- successfully prepared high-performance cement composites rein-
ness up to 15 mm. A similar procedure was also used by Soroush- forced with aligned sisal strands with the following methodology:
ian et al. [52]. rstly the long bers are cut to the size of the molds, weighed and
Another possibility based on de-watering with pressure was separated into different layers, resulting in a total volume fraction
used to successfully prepare cellulose composites incorporating of 10%. The bers are stitched to make homogeneous spacing
until 4 wt% of cotton and pinus pulp [34]. The cement paste con- between the bers and to facilitate the molding process. Then, lam-
sists of a mixture of cement, sand, water and uidizer with a inates are produced by placing the mortar mix into the mold one
water/cement ratio around 1:1. The cellulose bers are dispersed layer at a time, followed by single layers of long unidirectional
in water and incorporated in the paste beforehand. The specimens aligned bers (up to 5 layers). The samples are consolidated using
are prepared in a micro-grilled mold to allow the evacuation of a vibrating table and, after casting, compressed at 3 MPa for 5 min.
water with a minimum loss of cement and sand. The mold is placed Cement composites reinforced with pulp bers in the form of
on a plate, then compacted on a vibrating table, and pressed for aligned perforated sheets were prepared by Mohr et al. [53]. To
24 h to reach a nal pressure of 4 MPa (Fig. 4). prepare the composites, rstly a mixture of cement, sand and
Mohr and co-workers [16,17,4749] also successfully prepared water is added to the mold and vibrated to level the mortar
cement mortar composites without pressuring or a vacuum using a surface. Afterwards, the ber sheet is placed in the mold and

Fig. 3. Scheme of the Savastano and co-workers process.

Fig. 4. Mold and press system used to prepare the specimens (from left to right: the molds, vibrating table, pressing system and demolding).
120 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128

the breaking cross section, masking the exural tests results. None-
theless, the standard ISO 8336 test establishes that the three point
bending conguration can be used to determine the modulus of
rupture (MOR) using a proportion between the maximum distance
between supports and the thickness of the specimen higher than
15.
The main parameters determined from the force/stress versus
displacement/deformation curves to characterize the mechanical
behavior of the cement composite materials are (Fig. 5): the limit
of proportionality stress (LOP), the MOR, the modulus of elasticity
(MOE), the energy absorption or toughness, and the strain. The LOP
is dened as the stress value at the upper point of the linear por-
tion of the curve. The MOR is the maximum stress reached by
the material. The MOE is the tangent of the slope angle of the stress
versus deection curve during elastic deformation.
The equations for the calculation of these parameters depend
Fig. 5. Typical exural stressstrain curves obtained for cellulose cement on the bending conguration (three- or four-point), on the dis-
composites. tances between supports and its relationship with the position of
the forces, and on the thickness of the specimen (see Table 3).
lightly tamped to remove trapped air voids beneath the ber sheet. Another important parameter for these materials of high ductil-
Finally the remaining mortar is slowly added to the mold, taking ity is the energy absorbed during the exural test, dened as the
care to keep the ber sheet plane. For the samples with multiple area under the curve force versus displacement from the beginning
ber sheet addition, a thin layer of mortar is spread between the to the limit of the test. RILEM recommends whichever occurs rst
ber sheets to ensure bonding between the sheets. to be used as limit: the value of the ordinate corresponding to 40%
of MOR value or the deformation value corresponding to 10% of the
4. Mechanical behavior span [60].
The main drawback of the calculation of this parameter is that
4.1. Composites reinforced with pulp bers the energy is calculated from the force applied to the specimen
and from the deformation. These values depend not only on the
The vast majority of work dedicated to the study of the mechan- characteristics of the material but also on the dimensions of the
ical behavior of cement composites with short or pulp cellulose specimen. This makes the comparison between different speci-
bers randomly dispersed in the matrix analyze their exural mens with different dimensions difcult. To mitigate this problem
properties using both the three-point and four-point bending con- the toughness parameter has been established, dened as the
gurations. For this kind of material, thin sections that meet the energy absorbed during the exural test divided by the cross-
proportions which allow the development of bending mechanisms sectional area of the specimen [30,40]. Another possibility is to cal-
are preferably used. The standard TFR1 of RILEM recommends a culate a similar parameter dividing the absorbed energy by the
proportion between the maximum distance between supports weight of the sample. In any case, the main drawback is the same
and the thickness of the specimen higher than 20 [59]. As this ratio taking into account that the relationship between the energy
decreases, the compression crank mechanisms in the transmission absorbed and the cross-sectional area or the weight of the sample
of the load to the supports increases, distorting the results. This is not lineal.
standard establishes the four point bending conguration as the Recently other tests have been developed to obtain more infor-
only usable conguration. This conguration allows the part of mation about the behavior of the composites under temperature
the specimen between the two loads to be subjected to a pure and humidity [61], as is shown in Fig. 6.
bending constant effort and the points of the load application to In general, cellulose-ber-reinforced composites exhibit curves
stay away from the break point of the piece, ensuring the correct like the one presented in Fig. 5, having higher maximum peak
results are obtained. On the other hand, under the three point strength and post-cracking toughness that the neat matrix.
bending conguration, the only point subjected to pure bending Concerning the effect of cellulose ber type, Savastano et al.
is the point just under the load application. Moreover, the load [22,26] analyzed the mechanical properties of a ground iron blast
generates a squashing on the surface of the specimen near or in furnace slag (BFS) matrix reinforced with pinus and sisal pulps

Table 3
Equations for the calculations of the MOR, MOE and strain (d) for different bending congurations.

MOR 3Fl Fl 3Fa

2
2bh2 bh2 bh
Fa


MOE Fl3 23Fl3 2  3l2 4a2
4f bh
3
108f bh
3 4f bh

d 6f h 108f h 12f h

2 2 2
l 23l 3l 4a

F = the load (force) (N).

l = length of the support span (mm).
f = maximum deection (mm).
b = width of the specimen (mm).
h = thickness of the specimen (mm).
a = distance between the support and the position of the load (mm).
 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128 121

30
23 C 70 C
100 C 150 C
25
200 C 250 C

Flexural Stress (MPa)

20

15

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Displacement (mm)
Fig. 6. Typical exural curves obtained for composites subjected to 23 C, 70 C, 100 C, 150 C, 200 C, and 250 C.

under a three point bending conguration, comparing the results with cotton linters pulp. Despite the tensile tests results obtained
with an ordinary Portland cement matrix (OPC). They found that for the single bers being better for the cotton linters (16% higher
the mechanical properties of the BFS and OPC matrix types were strength and 37% higher modulus of the cotton linters with respect
enhanced in a like manner by 4 and 8 wt% of reinforcement, to the kraft pulp), the composites prepared with the pinus pulp had
respectively, of wood or sisal pulps, providing signicant incre- higher performance. This behavior was explained by the higher
mental improvements in exural strength. The best performance ratio of length to diameter of the pinus pulp (19% higher than for
in terms of exural strength was for BFS based composites rein- the cotton linters).
forced with wood pulp at ber loadings between 8% and 12% with Another interesting piece of research performed by the research
values around 24 MPa. The fracture toughness of the composites group of Savastano [32] analyzed the effect of sisal pulp with three
reinforced with 12 wt% of wood pulp ranged from 1.72 kJ/m2 to different degrees of renement on the mechanical performance of
2.36 kJ/m2. The fracture toughness values of sisal pulp were lower the composites. These authors found that an intermediate rene-
than those corresponding to wood pulp. The authors explained that ment degree resulted in signicant improvement in the MOR of
the lesser performance of sisal bers could be a direct consequence cement-based composites. However, the excessive renement
of their lower strength and that they have not been beaten in terms caused some decay in mechanical performance. These authors sug-
of generating external brillation and composite packing. These gested that the better adhesion of the bers reduced the incidence
factors would act to reduce the extent of matrix microcracking. of ber pull-out during composite fracture with consequent dam-
The elastic moduli fell continuously with the increase of ber con- age to the toughness of the material. The same authors found
tent and they obtained values in the range of 4.36.2 GPa for 12% similar results for eucalyptus pulp [23]. That is to say, rening sig-
wood or sisal reinforced BFS composites. nicantly increased the MOR but reduced the toughness. A similar
In the same way Claramunt et al. [34] studied the performance trend was found by Ardanuy et al. [62] comparing the effect of con-
of OPC composites reinforced with kraft pinus bers compared ventional with nanobrillated pulps. For a xed 4 wt% content, it
was found that unlike the composites reinforced with nanobril-
lated cellulose, the ones reinforced with conventional pulp had a
more pseudo-plastic behavior (Fig. 7). These results were
explained since long bers were more effective in bridging the
crack faces and the low-ber specic surface area favored toughen-
ing by deboning and ber pull-out.
Tonoli et al. [25] studied the effect of the surface modication of
eucalyptus bers on the mechanical performance of cement com-
posites. Two silane types were used to modify the bers: methac-
ryloxypropyltri-methoxysilane (MPTS) and aminopropyltri-
ethoxysilane (APTS). The authors found that the composites rein-
forced with APTS-modied bers presented higher exural
strength than those associated with composites made of unmodi-
ed and MPTS-modied pulps. They also found that the toughness
of the composites was not inuenced by modication with silane
coupling agents.
A study conducted by Khorami and Ganjian [35] compared the
exural behavior of cement composites reinforced with agricul-
tural waste bers of bagasse (obtained from sugar cane stalk),
wheat and eucalyptus at 2 and 4 wt% loadings in OPC matrices.
Fig. 7. Typical exural curves of cement composites reinforced with nanobrillated They found that 2 wt% ber content led to little change in the ex-
pulp compared with conventional sisal pulp. ural behavior of the control specimen. However, increasing the
122 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128

compressive strength decreased with the ber content. The

authors explained this decrease by the fact that increasing ber
content induces more voids which lightens and weakens the mate-
rial. On the other hand, exural strength increased between 0 and
4 wt% (from 6 to 7 MPa) and decreased progressively afterwards.
The authors suggested that this behavior could probably be due
to the superposition of two potential phenomena: an effect of
the ber related to the non-uniform dispersion in the matrix and
a weakening response following a reduction of the cementitous
matrix volume proportion.
In the same way, Claramunt et al. [63] reported similar results
for cement composites reinforced by softwood kraft pulps, varying
the wt% of bers between 0 and 10 wt%. The typical exural curves
are shown in Fig. 8. As can be seen, there is a decrease of the max-
imum strength of the matrix with the increase of the ber content
until 4 wt%. For higher content, the strength of the matrix is main-
tained at around the 50% of the maximum achieved. At the same
time, there is an increase in the strength of the reinforcement
Fig. 8. Typical stressdeection curves of the cement compared with cement which also tends to stabilize at a similar value or slightly greater
mortar composites with various % of pulp bers.
than that of the matrix for contents of around 4 wt% of bers.
The MOE decreases linearly with the ber content, while the
content, 4 wt% changed the exural behavior considerably. The toughness of the material increases. The SEM observations showed
better performance was found for waste bers obtained from sugar different failure models depending on the content (Figs. 9 and 10).
cane ber and the result was attributed to the high tensile strength For low contents (<2%), the exural stress failure of the material is
and the high aspect ratio of the bagasse ber rather compared with due to the fracture of the bers, i.e., the bermatrix bonding is
the wheat and eucalyptus bers. The same authors [50] analyzed enough to break the bers. At medium contents (46%), there is
the effect of the ber content on the exural properties of cement a loss of bermatrix bonding due to the interference of the nearby
composites reinforced by waste kraft pulp bers in another recent of the bers and the fracture mechanism is by pull-out. In this case,
study. They found that the optimum percentage of ber content for the length to thickness ratio of the bers plays an important role in
reinforcing cement was about 8 wt%, obtaining a MOR value 2.5 increasing the toughness of the material. For higher ber contents
times higher than the control specimens. These authors also (810%) there is no reinforcement and the ber and matrix roles
reported that, by increasing the amount of kraft bers, ductility disappear.
increased. Using a similar approach, Bentchikou et al. [13] analyzed In another study, Savastano et al. [9] found similar results. Com-
the effect of the content of pulp bers obtained from waste paper posites of sisal pulp or sisal staple reached their maximum exural
and packaging (between 0 to 16 wt%) in the compressive and ex- strengths of 1820 MPa at ber contents of about 8%, with an
ural strength of cement composites. The authors found that the improvement of at least 58% over that of the neat matrix.

Fig. 9. SEM micrographs of cement mortar composites reinforced with 2% wood pulp bers.
 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128 123

Fig. 10. SEM micrographs of cement mortar composites reinforced with 46% of wood bers.

Finally, Soroushian and co-workers [51] studied the effect of incorporation of long bers in the form of textile structures, like
ber nature (recycled, softwood and hardwood pulps) and content woven or nonwoven textiles. Recently Claramunt et al. [6466]
(5, 10 and 15 wt%) on cement composites processed by extrusion. have developed new cement based composites reinforced with ax
They obtained composites with exural strengths ranging from 10 nonwoven reinforcements that have multiple cracking behavior
to 20 MPa and exural toughness ranging from 50 to 300 Nm. The with deection hardening leading to composites with signicant
authors found that increasing softwood ber content from 5% to improvement of maximum exural stress and toughness with
15% increases toughness and that the exural strength increased respect to the composites reinforced with pulp bers. Fig. 11 shows
slightly as ber content increases from 5 to 10 wt% and then the typical bending curve of the cement mortar composite rein-
decreased. With respect to the effect of the nature of the bers, forced with natural ber nonwoven compared with the typical
they found that softwood bers provided balanced improvements one of pulp reinforced composite. As shown, although the LOP
in exural strength and toughness, and that hardwood bers (with and MOE values, related with the behavior of the matrix, are sim-
shorter lengths) were worst but more effective than the recycled ilar, the MOR and fracture energy increased considerably for the
bers. The recycled bers render less reinforcing effects than both composites reinforced with the nonwoven structures. This is due
softwood and hardwood bers. to the different fracture mechanisms developed depending on
the length of the bers. For long bers, the higher length and con-
4.2. Reinforced by long bers and textile structures tact with the matrix allow the formation of multiple cracking frac-
ture done when the stress increases. The crack distance is reduced
As mentioned above, most work on cellulose cement compos- during loading until a steady state condition is reached, and nally
ites are based on short or pulp bers and, as far as we know, only there is a progressive damage characterized by a crack widening
the research group of Toledo Filho has analyzed the mechanical stage leading to failure by ber pullout [42].
properties of composites reinforced with long vegetable bers In similar way, the research group of Toledo Filho used a woven
[42]. In this case they used both tensile tests and the four-point fabric made of jute for reinforcement of concrete nding a high
bending test to characterize the materials. They found that the potential of this new material for the development of thin walled
composites showed elastic moduli at linear-elastic zones in the elements [67].
range of 30 GPa under exural tension and 34 GPa under direct
tension. They observed a multiple cracking behavior under both
tensile and bending loads. The toughness of the composites was
found to be approximately 45 and 22 kJ/m2 under direct tension 5. Cellulosic ber-cement matrix bonding
and bending loads, respectively. They concluded that sisal bers
were able to bridge and arrest the cracks within the tensile region The mechanical performance of the composites depends not
response, leading to a high mechanical performance and energy only on the matrix and ber characteristics, but also on the inter-
absorption capacity. They also studied the fatigue behavior of these face properties. Besides the ber length, the composite toughness
composites [40], nding that the composites did not fatigue up to is mainly governed by bermatrix bonding. A well-balanced
106 cycles when subjected to maximum stress level below 6 MPa interaction between the cement matrix and the bers which allows
(50% of the ultimate tensile strength). ber debonding and pull-out as well as the stress transfer from the
Another possibility to improve the strength and ductility of the matrix to the bers is necessary to obtain cellulose cement com-
composites and make possible the industrial production is the posites with high toughness.
124 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128

(in humid weather with >65% relative humidity). Under these con-
ditions, the interstitial water dissolves calcium hydroxide to form a
buffered solution of pH > 13. Many studies have related the pres-
ence of this calcium hydroxide with the degradation of vegetable
bers, and thus with the loss of durability of the cellulose ber
reinforced cement-based composites [7,1518,57,71]. Mohr et al.
[16] established the following sequence of damage which occurs
in the vegetable bers when the composite is subjected to various
wetdry cycles: (a) loss of adherence between the ber and the
matrix after the second wetdry cycle; (b) reprecipitation of the
hydrated compounds within the void space at the former ber
cement interface during the rst ten wetdry cycles; (c) full min-
eralization, and thus the embrittlement of the vegetable bers
after ten wetdry cycles. Likewise, Toledo Filho et al. [18] demon-
strated the alkaline attack of the bers after various wetdry
cycles. They analyzed the durability of sisal and coconut bers in
alkaline media and cement mortar composites. They found sisal
and coconut bers immersed in a high alkaline media of calcium
hydroxide for 300 days completely lost their exibility. They
attributed this mainly to the crystallization of lime in the lumen,
Fig. 11. Typical stress versus displacement curve of the nonwoven reinforced walls and voids in the ber. The extent of the alkaline attack was
composite compared with the typical one of the pulp reinforced composite.
smaller when the bers were conditioned in a sodium hydroxide
solution. The embrittlement was mainly associated with the min-
Although signicant research has been performed to quantita- eralization of the bers due to the migration of hydration products,
tively determine the bond adhesion of man-made bers with especially calcium hydroxide, to the ber lumen, walls and voids.
cement matrices, only a few studies have been focused on They also found that embrittlement of composites manufactured
vegetable bers [46,68]. with short sisal bers was greater than that observed in specimens
Silva et al. [46] analyzed the effect of ber shape and curing age reinforced with long bers. The authors attributed this effect to the
on the bond strength of sisal cement composites using pull-out higher number of end points and larger surface area of the short
tests. Concerning the effect of the ber morphology, they found bers, which allowed a faster penetration of cement hydration
that the variations of the cross section had signicant effects on products and consequent mineralization of the bers.
the bond strength. In this sense, the highest values of bond stress Using an X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique and Thermogravi-
were found for the twisted arch shapes, with an average adhesional metric Analysis (TGA), Claramunt et al. [15,34] corroborated the
and frictional bond strength of 0.92 and 0.42 MPa, respectively. migration of the hydration compounds of the cement to the vege-
With respect to the curing age, the bond strength reached its max- table bers according to the following process: (a) in the rst dry
imum capacity at 14 days for the matrix studied. In another work, cycle the transversal section of the vegetable bers is reduced
the same research group studied the effect of wet and dry cycles on due to the loss of water. This reduction causes loss of adherence
sisal ber (hornication) on ber matrix bonding [69]. They with the matrix and the appearance of void spaces at the ber
reported an increase of the adhesional and frictional bond strength matrix interface; (b) in the subsequent wet cycle, the water
of 40% and 50%, respectively for treated bers compared with dissolves the hydration compounds of the cement (calcium
untreated bers. Moreover, the maximum pull-out load increased hydroxide). The vegetable bers absorb this dissolution of calcium
with the embedment length, reaching 6.35 and 8.46 N for the hydroxide and thus swell; (c) in the second dry cycle, water is lost
untreated and treated bers, respectively, for a length of 25 mm. through evaporation and the calcium hydroxide precipitates on the
The authors attributed this effect to the reduction in dimensional surface and in the lumen of the bers. During the subsequent
changes due to the hornication process. wetdry cycles there is a pump-like effect with the consequent
Other studies analyzed also the ber matrix adhesion determin-
ing indirectly the ber matrix bond adhesion [29,70].

6. Methods for improving durability

The main drawback associated with cellulose bers in cement

applications is their durability in the cementitious matrix. As is
known, the majority of the cellulose cement composites are based
on OPC. This agglomerate hardens by hydration of anhydrous com-
pounds giving rise to calcium silicate hydrate (CSH gel), ettringite
and calcium hydroxide or portlandite. Although the stoichiometric
water/cement ratio is around 0.23, it becomes necessary to add
more water to mix the components. This excess of water evapo-
rates during the curing step leading to porous network cement.
This porosity is one of the causes of the lack of durability of the
cement pastes, given that it allows the access of water which
can contain different dissolved substances (chloride or sulfate salts
or acids among others) or gases from the outside into the inside
of the cement material. Furthermore, depending on climatic condi- Fig. 12. SEM micrograph showing cement hydration compounds in the lumen and
tions, the pore network may be dry, semi-saturated and saturated surface of the bers.
 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128 125

densication of the surface and lumen of the bers, with products Toledo Filho et al. [43] analyzed the effect of the replacement of
with high alkalinity (mainly calcium hydroxide) (Fig. 12). OPC with calcined clay in order to produce a matrix totally free of
Other authors stated that the mineralization process is due to a calcium hydroxide on the durability of sisal mortar laminates. They
chemical reaction of the cellulose polymer in isosaccharinic acid found that the long-term embrittlement of the composites was
due to the high alkaline medium of the matrix. The fraction of this completely avoided through the use of this CH-free matrix (with
acid reacts with calcium ions, giving rise to a precipitated salt. This 50% calcined clay as partial replacement of OPC). Therefore, the
process catalyzes new transformations of the cellulose polymer in use of a CH-free matrix seems to be a promising alternative for
acid and the formation of more salts, leading to a weakening of the increasing the durability of sisal ber-cement-based composites
cellulose bers [7274]. with aging. In a recent study these authors [41] also found that
There are basically two strategies for improving the durability OPC replacement with 50% of amorphous metakaolin led to a sig-
of the cellulose-ber-reinforced cement-based composites. One nicant reduction of the calcium hydroxide formation.
possibility is to modify the composition of the matrix in order to Accelerated carbonation is the other alternative for increasing
reduce or remove the alkaline compounds. The second way to the durability of the cellulose cement composites which has been
increase the durability of these composites is to modify the bers studied. Carbonation allows the quick reaction of Ca(OH)2 with
with chemical or physical treatments to increase their stability in carbon dioxide (CO2) resulting in CaCO3. This process also has an
the cementitious matrix. Some of these treatments imply the use inuence on the mechanical properties of the composites, increas-
of chemical reagents and could be complex to apply in industrial ing strength and reducing the specic energy and water absorp-
processes. For this reason it is important to look for simple strate- tion. This process is usually done in humidity chambers with
gies which can be easily implemented. enriched CO2 atmospheres. One interesting possibility which has
been less studied is performing this accelerated carbonation under
supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) processing conditions.
6.1. Modifying the matrix
Toledo Filho et al. [11] studied the effect of accelerated carbon-
ation on cement composites reinforced with sisal and coir pulp
There are basically two treatments for removing or reducing the
bers. They found that carbonation of the specimens for 109 days
portlandite content in the matrix: adding pozzolanic compounds
was a promising alternative for increasing the durability of cellu-
or the carbonation process.
lose-cement-based composites. Tonoli et al. [24] also evaluated
The pozzolanic reaction is done during the hydration process
the effect of accelerated carbonation on the performance of sisal
between the calcium hydroxide and the amorphous silica, produc-
pulp reinforced cementitious composites after aging. They found
ing hydrated calcium silicate, a very stable salt. The reaction is the
that accelerated carbonation was an effective method to maintain
following:
the MOR of the specimens after 480 days in a laboratory environ-
2 ment. The same research group [28] analyzed this effect on cement
3Ca 2H2 SiO4 2OH 2H2 O ! Ca3 H2 Si2 O7 OH2  3H2 O
composites reinforced with eucalyptus pulp. They concluded that
In OPC, the amorphous silica content is not enough to transform accelerated carbonation could be considered as a viable curing
all the portlandite present into CSH gel. This excess of portlan- condition when looking for durable eucalyptus cellulosic pulp rein-
dite is desirable for stainless-steel-reinforced concretes, where forced cement-based composites. The properties of the composites
the durability depends mainly on the alkalinity of the medium. were maintained after accelerated and natural aging, indicating
However, as mentioned before, this alkalinity is the main draw- their improved durability. The authors concluded that the decrease
back for the cellulose composites, which require the portlandite in the alkalinity of the cement matrix, lower porosity, and smaller
to be reduced or removed from the medium. It is therefore neces- average pore diameter associated with the densication of the
sary to add pozzolanic compounds to the cement paste in order to matrix for the higher precipitation of CaCO3 could explain the mit-
promote the transformation of portlandite into CSH gel. There igation of the composite degradation.
are several pozzolanic additions, such as microsilica or silica fume, Similarly, Soroushian et al. [52] analyzed the durability of CO2-
metakaolin, blast furnace slag or y ash among others. Depending cured cement composites reinforced with softwood kraft pulp after
on the reactivity, it will modify the matrix in different manner. 25 accelerated wetdry cycles, after repeated freezethaw cycles,
Toledo Filho et al. [11] studied the partial replacement of OPC and after warm-water immersion. They concluded that carbonated
with undensied silica fume and blast-furnace slag (10% and 40% boards showed reduced capillary porosity, increased CaCO3 con-
by weight of OPC) to reduce the alkalinity of the matrix as well tent and improved bonding. Furthermore, under diverse acceler-
as the content of calcium hydroxide. The results obtained indicated ated aging effects, carbonated boards also provided improved
that the treatment of the matrix with undensied silica fume was longevity and weathering resistance.
an effective means of slowing down the strength loss and embrit-
tlement of the cement composites. Nonetheless, the blast-furnace 6.2. Modifying the bers
slag did not prevent the deterioration over time of the composites.
Mohr et al. [48] evaluated the performance of softwood kraft The other strategy for improving the durability of cement com-
pulp ber composites containing a variety of supplementary posites consists in the physical or chemical modication of the
cementitious materials such as silica fume (SF), ground granulated bers with the aim of optimizing the bermatrix adhesion and
blast furnace slag (SL), class F y ash (FA), class C y ash (CA), making them less sensitive to the matrix composition and environ-
metakaolin (MK) and proprietary blends of raw and calcined diato- mental humidity.
maceous earth and volcanic ash (DEVA). They also studied different A cheap and simple method successfully used by our research
dosages in binary, ternary and quaternary blends prior to and after group to obtain more durable cement composites is the previ-
exposure to wetdry cycling. They found that the composites con- ously-mentioned hornication of cellulose bers [15,34]. Horni-
taining 30% SF, 50% SF, 90% SL, and 30% MK apparently eliminated cation is an irreversible effect which occurs on bers subjected to
degradation due to wetdry cycling. Ternary and quaternary drying and rewetting cycles principally. Hornicated bers have
blends of 10% SF/70% SL, 10% MK/70% SL, and 10% MK/10% SF/ higher dimensional stability and lower water retention values.
70% SL also prevented composite degradation due to a reduction We found that the prior hornication of the bers improved the
in the calcium hydroxide content and the stabilization of the alkali durability of cement mortar composites, although it did not pre-
content. vent the partial loss of their mechanical reinforcement. Around
126 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128

Mohr et al. [16,17,47] analyzed the effect of some treatments

beating, bleaching, initial drying stage and treatment of the pulp
(kraft or thermo-mechanical) of softwood kraft pulp bers on
minimizing composite degradation. They found that the beating
and drying state of the bers did not appear to signicantly affect
the mechanical behavior of the composite after wetdry cycling
exposure. Bleached bers exhibited a more accelerated progres-
sion of ber mineralization than unbleached bers for low num-
bers of wetdry cycles. Similarly, they also observed that in
general, losses in mechanical properties progressed more slowly
in composites made with thermo-mechanical pulps than in kraft
composites.
On the other hand, Toledo Filho et al. [11] analyzed the effect of
immersion of long sisal bers in slurried silica fume prior to their
incorporation in the matrix. They found that it was an effective
method for improving the strength and toughness of the compos-
ites with time. The presence of silica fume in the bermatrix
interface appeared to create a zone of low alkalinity around the
ber which delayed or prevented the degradation of the ber by
alkaline attack or mineralization through the migration of calcium
products.
Finally, Tonoli et al. [29] evaluated the effect of surface modi-
cation of eucalyptus kraft pulp with silanes on the durability of the
Fig. 13. Loaddeection vs. tensile stressstrain response for hornied sisal ber
reinforced cement composites. ber-cement composites. They found that after 200 aging cycles,
composites with aminopropyltri-ethoxysilane APTS-treated bers
presented lower water absorption and apparent density compared
13% (pinus pulp) and 21% (cotton linters) higher values of exural with materials made with unmodied and methacryloxypropyltri-
strength and around 20% (pinus pulp) and 10% (cotton linters) methoxysilane MPTS-grafted bers. Despite this, they found that
higher values of compressive strength relative to the untreated accelerated aging cycles decreased MOR and the toughness of the
bers were obtained for the aged composites [34]. We also found composites regardless of the treatment initially applied to the cel-
that the lower permeability of the bers of cotton linters resulted lulose pulp. Non-mineralized laments in composites with MPTS-
in lower degradation of the bers and, as a consequence, less loss modied bers led to less damage in toughness and in nal specic
of resistance in the aged composites. The permeability of the pinus deection after accelerated aging than in the other composites.
kraft pulp bers, with pits on their surface, facilitated degradation
in the interior of the bers and, as a consequence, the loss of resis- 7. Concluding remarks
tance was higher than that in the cotton linter bers. This same
treatment has been successfully used by Toledo Filho et al. in sisal This review presents the research done in the last few years in the
reinforced cement composites [68,69,75]. The hornied sisal ber eld of cement-based composites reinforced with cellulose bers,
composites presented a multiple cracking behavior under bending focusing on their composition, preparation methods, mechanical
and direct tension loads as shown in Fig. 13. properties, and strategies to improve bermatrix bonding and
Tonoli et al. [24] evaluated the inuence of the renement composite durability. The main conclusions are as follows:
intensity of sisal pulp on the mechanical performance of compos-
ites after wetdry accelerated aging cycles. They found that pulp 1. Softwood and sisal pulps and sisal strands are the most com-
beating played an important role in composites subjected to accel- monly studied ber form for preparing cellulose cement
erated aging tests. Toughness was greatly decreased with acceler- composites. Other pulps from eucalyptus, agricultural waste,
ated aging cycles, respectively to 29% and 12% of its original value cotton, or staple bers like ax or hemp, among others, have
for composites with unrened pulp and medium rened pulp. In also been studied to prepare cement composites but to a
contrast, composites with the most rened pulp presented an considerably lesser extent.
increase in toughness after 100 aging cycles. The improved surface 2. To adequately disperse the bers in the matrix is necessary
contact area after rening contributes to the enhanced adhesion of to obtain cement composites with good mechanical perfor-
the sort bers, despite the increase of the composite rigidity mance. This fact conditions the manufacturing methods
caused by a supposed mineralization or embrittlement of micro- which consist mainly of variations of the traditional Hats-
brils after aging. The same authors also analyzed the inuence of check method. Other newer methods are extrusion of pulp
renement, but with hardwood bers [23]. In this case, they found cement mixtures and laminates with long bers or sheet-like
that the mechanical performance of the composites after acceler- structures. Extrusion allows the alignment of the pulp bers
ated aging decreased with rening. However, toughness of com- in the machine direction and the lamination methods allow
posites with unrened pulp was preserved after aging. They also reinforcement with semi-nished products, such as unidi-
found that after 200 accelerated aging cycles, the composites with rectional long bers, to ensure a higher level of enforcement
unrened eucalyptus pulp presented an improved mechanical per- in the desired direction.
formance in relation to the composites with pinus pulp. They 3. Since cellulose cement composites are manufactured in the
observed that the short eucalyptus bers were better distributed form of small thickness panels, the most appropriate method
than pinus bers and the bridging bers shared the load, transfer- of mechanical testing is the four-point bending conguration.
ring it to the other parts of the composite. The consequence was 4. Different treatments can be used to improve the durability of
the maintenance of MOR and toughness after 200 accelerated cellulose cement composites: (a) by pozzolanic additions,
aging cycles in composites with unbleached eucalyptus pulp. either directly introduced into the mass of the cement or
 M. Ardanuy et al. / Construction and Building Materials 79 (2015) 115128 127

applied to the bers, and/or through curing under a CO2 [26] Savastano H, Warden PG, Coutts RSP. Brazilian waste bres as reinforcement
for cement-based composites. Cem Concr Compos 2000;22:37984.
atmosphere; (b) by rening the pulps; with hornication
[27] Savastano H, Warden P, Coutts RS. Potential of alternative bre cements as
treatments or chemical surface treatments, such as silanes. building materials for developing areas. Cem Concr Compos 2003;25:
58592.
Cellulose cement composites with good mechanical properties [28] Almeida EFS, Tonoli GHD, Santos SF, Savastano H. Improved durability of
vegetable ber reinforced cement composite subject to accelerated
and high durability have been developed in the last decade. The carbonation at early age. Cem Concr Compos 2013;42:4958.
main challenges for the near future are to further improve the [29] Tonoli GHD, Rodrigues Filho UP, Savastano H, Bras J, Belgacem MN, Rocco Lahr
durability and the mechanical performance of these composites Fa. Cellulose modied bres in cement based composites. Compos A Appl Sci
Manuf 2009;40:204653.
without increasing the costs of production, while developing eco- [30] Savastano H, Santos SF, Radonjic M, Soboyejo WO. Fracture and fatigue of
friendly technologies. natural ber-reinforced cementitious composites. Cem Concr Compos
2009;31:23243.
[31] Savastano H, Turner A, Mercer C, Soboyejo WO. Mechanical behavior of
Acknowledgements cement-based materials reinforced with sisal bers. J Mater Sci
2006;41:693848.
[32] Tonoli H, Joaquim GH, Arsneb A, Bilba MA, Savastano Jr K. Performance and
The authors would like to acknowledge MICINN (Government durability of cement based composites reinforced with rened sisal pulp.
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