Study on Performance of Coir Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites

Due to the larger elongation at failure and higher toughness in tension, coir fibers have been considered as one of the ideal natural fibers used in fiber reinforced cementitious composites. This paper presents experimental investigations on the performance of coir fiber reinforced cementitious composites. The coir fibers with a length of 20 mm were first pretreated by boiling in water and immersing in an alkali solution. Subsequently, they were blended at a mass ratio of 1 ∶ 1 . The tests were then performed to evaluate the influence of different fiber volume fractions (0%, 2%, 4%, and 6%) on the performance of coir fiber reinforced cementitious composites, including water absorption, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, frost resistance, impact resistance, flexural strength in dry and wet conditions, and flexural strength after soak–dry cycles. The incorporation of coir fibers significantly enhanced the performances of cementitious composites except for water absorption.