Fibers Reinforced Fly Ash based Geopolymer Composites

The requirement for environmentally friendly construction materials for sustainable development is nowadays an important issue. The introduction of fly ash based geopolymers as an alternative binder to ordinary cement materials promises to be a good choice for green building. Despite fly ash based geopolymer has good strength and excellent material greenness, applications have been limited due to the inherent brittleness. The addition of short fibres can changes geopolymer brittle behaviour to ductile or quasi-ductile with significant improvement in tensile strength, tensile strain, toughness and energy absorption capacities. For this purpose, three different types of short fibres (such as vegetal, inorganic and organic) were selected and their influence on microstructural and mechanical properties of the fly ash based geopolimeric composite were studied.