Effect of alkali treatment and fibre length on agave/mortar composite properties

The use of natural vegetable fibres to reinforce cement and cement mortar is well studied in the literature. This paper focused on the efficient deployment of Agave americana L. fibre by using it as reinforcement in cement mortar. Two parameters that affect the mechanical properties of composites were taken into account, mainly fibre length and fibre pre-treatment. The tensile and flexural strengths of the specimens were determined. Results of this study indicated that the fibre length influences both flexural and tensile properties. When treated with 2 % NaOH, the tenacity of agave fiber passed from 32 cN/tex to 40 cN/tex and its crystallinity increased from 13 % to 44 %. The fibre length of 20 mm appeared to be the optimum value over which the flexural strength decreased due to the bundling effects of the long fibres. Besides, treating the fibres with an alkaline solution of 2 % NaOH could improve the mechanical properties of agave/mortar composite in such a way that the tensile strength increased from 4.5 MPa to 10.9 MPa for a fiber length of 25 mm. The main result of this study showed the possibility of using Agave americana L. fibres to implement low cost construction materials.