Author(s)

Jean Calvin Bidoung^1,2*, Nicolas Stéphane Nyobe¹, Mey Mahamat Imar^1,2, Lucien Meva’a¹

¹National Advanced School of Engineering, Yaounde, Cameroon.
²Local Materials Promotion Authority, Yaounde, Cameroon.

This work presents the development and mechanical characterization of a concrete reinforced with plant fiber extracted from Rhecktophyllum Camerunense (RC), a plant found in the regions of Center and South Cameroon. A comparative study between ordinary concrete and concrete reinforced with RC fiber at different percentages (0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%) was carried out. The mechanical characterization of the material consisted in studying the flexural, compressive and splitting tensile strength by using cylindrical specimens of dimensions 160 × 320 in accordance with standards EN 12390-3 and EN 12390-6. The study of the mechanical properties was completed by the three-point bending test using prismatic test specimens of dimension 40 × 40 × 160 made according to the EN 196 standard. It emerges from this work that the addition of RC fiber improves the mechanical properties of concrete up to 0.2% with a peak at 0.1% of fiber corresponding to respective increases of 9%, 16% and 6% of the values of mechanical resistance to compression, flexion and tension after 28 days. From 0.3% of fiber, the values of the mechanical characteristics of the composite drop to values lower than those of ordinary concrete. The density reduction rate at 28 days is about 10% compared to the mass of ordinary concrete. These results allow us to conclude that the RC fiber could be valorized for the production of lightweight concrete.

Reinforced Concrete, RC Fiber, Mechanical Properties, Lightweight Concrete

Bidoung, J. , Nyobe, N. , Imar, M. and Meva’a, L. (2023) Mechanical Characterization of Rhecktophyllum Camerunense (RC) Fiber Reinforced Concrete. Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, 11, 20-32. doi: 10.4236/msce.2023.118002.