Effect of selected cellulosic fibers on the properties of cement based composites

In this paper, the experimental work providing the testing of cement mixture containing two types of cellulosic fibers, namely fibers from bleached wood pulp and recycled waste paper fibers, is given. Fibers are described by selected characteristics such as length, density, and pH. They were applied as additive to the cement composite/plaster while they were dosed in different amounts: 0.2 %, 0.3 % and 0.5 % of the weight of both the filler and binder. Mixtures without fibers were prepared as reference samples. Density, water absorption, thermal conductivity, flexural and compressive strength were studied following by analyses of differences between resulting values. The observed differences in the physical, mechanical and thermal properties were found to be influenced by the properties (such as type, amount and other characteristics) of cellulosic fibers.