Mechanical performance of micro crystalline cellulose reinforced cementitious composites

Abstract

In this work, mechanical performance of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) reinforced cementitious composites has been studied. For this purpose, homogeneous suspensions of MCC (1- 5 wt. %) in water were prepared using ultrasonication energy and subsequently, the suspensions were added to cement/sand mixture to fabricate cementitious composites. The composite samples, after hydration of 28 days, were characterized for flexural and compressive properties. It was observed that both flexural and compressive strength of cement mortar improved strongly with MCC addition. The highest improvements of flexural and compressive strengths (19.2% and 51.4%, respectively) were achieved with MCC loading up to 1 wt.% and the property improvements reduced at higher MCC loadings due to MCC agglomeration. Considerable improvement in the flexural modulus of cement mortar was also achieved due to MCC addition.