Performance of ''Agave lecheguilla'' natural fiber in portland cement composites exposed to severe environment conditions [An article from: Building and Environment]

This digital document is a journal article from Building and Environment, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
The main objective of the present research was to provide the housing alternatives to istle zone rural areas in Mexico, which represent about 10% of the national territory. The proposed solution involved a sustainable portland cement-based composite material, reinforced with high tensile strength natural fibers of ''Agave lecheguilla''. The results indicated that the ''Agave lecheguilla'' or simply lechuguilla fiber shows a high tensile capacity, but can be severely deteriorated in the alkaline environment of the composite. However, if the fiber is protected with paraffin and the composite matrix is modified with a pozzolan admixture such as fly ash, the composite performs acceptably well at exposure to aggressive environments and variations in humidity and temperature.