Effect of polypropylene fibers on properties of mortar containing crushed brick as aggregate

Abstract EN

More recently there has been a great attention towards converting waste materials by- products into useful materials as aggregate in concrete industry.

It is thus aimed in this study to investigate the possibility of using waste brick as suitable materials and alternative to the natural aggregate in the production of lightweight mortar.

The essential objective of this work is to study the mechanical properties of lightweight mortar containing different percentages of polypropylene fiber with high range water reducing agent.

The effective synergy of this admixture on the properties of mortars is also investigated.

Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, thermal conductivity and drying shrinkage tests were conducted on reference and polypropylene fiber reinforced mortar specimens at various ages of curing (7, 14, 28, 60 and 90 days) respectively.

The results show a significant increasing in splitting tensile strength with the increment of fibers content.

Although, a considerable reduction in workability is recorded as increasing the fiber content.

Which is controlled by using high range water reducing admixture.

All mixes show acceptable values for thermal insulation with regards to ACI 213-87 thermal insulation recommendations.