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Abstract

Pulp fibers derived from wood or non-wood plants or recycled paper products, which are 0.1-30 mm long and about 0.001-0.1 mm in equivalent diameter, are individualized by mechanical action, blended with at least one of the dry ingredients of the cement-based material and then mixed with the remaining ingredients of conventional cement-based mixtures using conventional mixing equipment for effectively improving fresh and hardened properties of cement-based materials. Dispersion is achieved by individualizing the plant pulp fibers by mechanical action, and further by blending the individualized fibers with at least one of the dry ingredients of the mix and then with the remaining ingredients of the cement-based material, with fibers added at relatively low dosages of about 0.3-30 kg per cubic meter. The affinity of plant pulp fibers for water facilitates their dispersion in conventional cement-based mixtures. Fresh mixtures of cement-based materials incorporating the dispersed individualized plant pulp fibers possess desirable workability, resistance to segregation and bleeding, pumpability, finishability, and reduced rebound when pneumatically applied. Hardened cement-based materials incorporating the dispersed individualized plant pulp fibers provide improved crack resistance, toughness characteristics, impact resistance, fatigue life, abrasion resistance, and other mechanical, physical and durability characteristics. Plain and reinforced concrete and shotcrete as well as precast and cast-in-place concrete, plaster and stucco, mortar, grout and flowable fill are examples of cement-based materials which can benefit from the improvements in fresh and hardened material properties rendered by dispersed plant pulp fibers.

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