Air-cured banana-fibre-reinforced cement composites

In this paper techniques for the fabrication of banana-fibre-cement composites are reported. The physical and mechanical properties of air-cured fibre-reinforced cement composites, containing banana reinforcement prepared by several different methods are discussed. It was found that kraft pulped banana fibre, at a loading of between 8 and 16% by mass, resulted in composites with flexural strengths in excess of 20 MPa. At a fibre loading of 14% by mass, the flexural strength is 24·92 MPa and the fracture toughness value is 1·74 kJm −2, properties adequate for the production of commercially viable building materials. Thus, in countries like India, China, and within South East Asia, where there is a lack of softwood fibre (the natural fibre most preffered as an alternative to asbestos), but in which banana fibre occurs in abundance, a viable alternative fibre resource is available for commercial consideration.