TITLE:
Influence of Some Plant Fibers on the Mechanical Performance of Composite Materials
AUTHORS:
Serge Pierre Quenum, Yvette S. Tankpinou Kiki, Judicaël Koffi Agbelele, Crespin Prudence Yabi, Edmond Codjo Adjovi
KEYWORDS:
Plant Fibers, Soils, Composite Materials, Reinforcement
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Civil Engineering,
Vol.13 No.4,
December
28,
2023
ABSTRACT: This work
focused on the search for biobased materials capable of being used in road
techniques as soil inclusions, and on studying the influence of their
incorporation on the characteristic parameters of pavement layers. To this end,
pineapple, cyperus and imperata plant fibers, due to their endemic availability, were used
as reinforcement on sourced materials, notably bar soil, lateritic gravel and
silty sand. Complete identification and mechanical tests (Proctor and CBR) were
carried out on materials in their natural state (soil) and on composite
materials (soil + plant fibers) in the laboratory to determine their
classification in road geotechnics, their compaction parameters and their
mechanical behavior. Firstly, the various types of 2.5 cm long fibers were
incorporated into the different types of soil at mass contents of 1% and 2%.
This part of the study showed that the pineapple fiber composite incorporated
into class A2 bar soil offered the best results, with a 38% gain in CBR index
compared with the natural soil. Pineapple fibers incorporated at 1% in
lateritic gravel raise the CBR value of the reinforced soil to 10% of the CBR
value of the natural soil and to 7% for silty sand.