Fiber reinforcements with aggregate

Because they are relatively expensive, epoxy polymers have not been used very widely as binders in PC products. Therefore, epoxy PC is used for special applications, in situations in which the higher cost can easily be justified, such as mortar for industrial flooring to provide physical and chemical resistance, skid-resistant overlays (filled with sand, emery, pumice, quartz) in highways, epoxy plaster for exterior walls (e.g., in exposed aggregate panels), and resurfacing material for deteriorated areas (e.g., in flooring). Epoxy PC reinforced with glass, carbon, or boron fibers is used in the fabrication of translucent panels, boat hulls, and automobile bodies [2,6],... 

Cellulose nanofibers from different sources have showed remarkable characteristics as reinforcement material for optically transparent composites [160, 161], Iwamoto et al. [160] prepared optically transparent composites of transparent acrylic resin reinforced with cellulose nanofibers extracted from wood pulp fibers by fibrillation process. They showed that cellulose nanofiber-reinforced composites are able to retain the transparency of the matrix resin even at high fiber content (up to70 % wt). The aggregation of cellulose nanofibers also contributes to a significant improvement in the thermal expansion properties of plastics. 

Cheng, Q. Wang, S. Rials, T. Lee, S. (2007a). Physical and mechanical properties of polyvinyl alcohol and polypropylene composite materials reinforced with fibril aggregates isolated from regenerated cellulose fibers. Cellulose, Vol. 14, pp. 593-602, ISSN 0969-0239... 

As we have seen, the structure of the in situ composites with low Vf is akin to that of a short fiber-reinforced composite. Lin and Yee [38] have proposed a two-step procedure for calculating the elastic moduli. First, the axial (E ) and transverse (E ) Young s moduli of the PLC domains in the composites are calculated in terms of the aggregate model. Then the axial Young s modulus of the composite can be... 

For fiber reinforced composites based on semicrystalline matrix, the ultimate properties are determined in part by the crystalline morphology of the polymer matrix, which in turn depends on the rates of nucleation and crystal growth. Therefore, the knowledge and understanding of crystallization mechanisms are crucial for designing the tailored materials or products with the desirable properties. In this section, we would like to introduce the crystallization kinetics of PET/PP MRCs first, and then the crystaUine structures and aggregated morphology will be also presented. 

Ultra high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) are concretes of higher compressive strength than 120 MPa and based on various compositions of fine aggregate with a high dosage of cement and the use of supplementary cementitions materials (SCM) (Habel et al. 2006, cf. Section 4.1.2). 

A special type of this material is called SIFCA slurry infiltrated fiber-reinforced castable. This is a composite material of ceramic matrix with calcium aluminate cement and with aggregate made of aluminum oxide, mullite, zircon and calcined fireclay. The matrix is reinforced with stainless-steel fibres. SIFCA is used to made pre-cast elements for refractory structures, where temperature can rise up to 1100°C. Heat curing is often used during the pre-casting. Another kind of similar material is called SIMCON slurry infiltrated mat concrete in which arrays of single fibres are replaced by a system of steel mats for better and easier distribution of reinforcement (Murakami and Zeng 1998). 

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