Natural fibres for low cost cementitious composites

Much of the research on the use of natural FRC materials has been motivated by the ready availability of such fibres, which are high in strength. Combined with the simple production processes for making cementitious composites of various shapes, they are potentially suitable for low cost housing applications. This topic has been reviewed in several references [3-5]. 

FRC composites produced by mixing deals with fibre contents in the range of 1-5% by volume. Many of the reported studies Indicate that mixing was carried out manually since this made it easier to overcome the difficulties in mechanical mixing associated with the harsh mix and balling of the fibres [14], 

Mwamila [12,17] produced continuous twines of sisal fibres by the spinning together of single fibres. The twine is composed of several strands, each made of a bundle of individual fibres. The bond between the fibres is facilitated by friction and by the spiral form obtained during spinning. In the composites produced by Mwamila the twines were hand laid only at the bottom of a beam, and in that sense his components are not truly a composite material with uniformly distributed fibres. Reinforcement with 2% of twines enhanced the flexural strength 

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