Impact strength of metakaolin ferrocement

In this study, the impact performance of ferrocement with metakaolin was investigated to explore potential uses of both ferrocement and metakaolin in construction industry. A series of ferrocement specimens were cast with varying number of mesh layers and with varying metakaolin percentages. The specimens were normal water-cured for 180 days. The effect of metakaolin percentage (5–25 %); curing period (7, 28, 90 and 180 days); and number of mesh layers (one, three and five) on impact strength was investigated. The results show that, 10 % metakaolin is the optimum content to obtain maximum impact strength. Up to 15 % metakaolin replacement the strengths are higher than control ferrocement at all curing ages and for all the mesh layers. The results further indicated that metakaolin replacements equal and higher than 20 % yields lower strengths than control ferrocement for all the mesh layers.