High strength and low water absorption of bamboo fiber-reinforced geopolymer composites

This work focused on designing an adequate metakaolin-based, bamboo fiber -reinforced geopolymer composite for higher flexural strength and water absorption resistance. This study evaluated mineral particles and bamboo fiber -reinforced geopolymer composites, which were water -treated or alkali -treated for potential use as a multifunctional sustainable construction material. A lower -cost, sodium-metakaolin geopolymer reinforced with 20 wt% fine sand and 5 wt% bamboo fiber (19.0 MPa 4 -pt flexural strength) was 32% stronger than its potassium -based counterpart and about 78% stronger than the sodium -based matrix reinforced with only 5 wt% bamboo fiber. All geopolymer composites reinforced with sand particulates and bamboo fibers exhibited much lower water absorption and were undamaged from oven and water saturation. All these sand -bamboo fiberreinforced geopolymer composites were found to be suitable for quality assurance of composite plates for outdoor use.