Mechanical Properties and Thermal Insulation of Straw Fiber-Reinforced Perlite Concrete

Construction operations in the forest areas may damage the local environment to some degree. It's today's trend to achieve the ecological sustainable development of these areas. To this end, combined with the advantages of forest and grass environment materials, this paper studies the road concrete added with straw fiber and perlite. The perlite was added into the concrete, which enhances the insulation. Also, it compared the changes of concrete strength when adding the rod-shaped straw in natural state and alkalization-treated filamentous straw fibers respectively. The results showed that the volume weight of concrete reinforced with perlite was reduced and the insulation was improved; the strength of concrete was promoted by adding the filamentous straw fiber after alkalization. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) found that perlite can be closely bonded with the products of cement hydration; in the interfacial transition zone between perlite, straw fiber and cement base there existed a gap between rod-shaped straw and concrete, while after alkalization treatment, the filamentous straw fiber was closely bonded with the cement -based material, which improves the ductility and strength of concrete. This study is of great significance for ensuring the suitable development and protecting the green environment in forest areas.