Extraction and Characterization of Bagasse Fibres from Sugar Cane (<i>Saccharum officinarum</i>) for Incorporation into a Mortar

The paper reported a comparative study of the methods of extraction of vegetable fibres encountered in the literature;three main ones was chose, namely: combing, retting with pre-treatment of the bagasse in salt and distilled water, and Chemical extraction at three concentration levels of soda (2N, 1N, 0.1N) with pre-treatment of bagasse with salt water and distilled water. After extracting the fibres using these methods, it appeared that the natural methods (retting and combing) have a higher yield of around 70% compared to the chemical method which has a low yield of around 40%. The fibres obtained by the chemical extraction method (1N-BPD) had the best characteristics.

Improvement of the Thermal Properties of Cement Mortars by Adding Banana Pseudo-Trunkfibres

The present work examined the influence on thermal properties of the incorporation of banana pseudo-trunkfibres in a cementitious matrix mortar that can be used as rendering or masonry block. The banana pseudo-trunkfibres are extracted, cut and characterized. Then the mortars are made with different proportions of fibres and characterized in order to identify the parameters influencing the characteristics of the material, both in the fresh and hardened state. The physical, mechanical and thermal tests carried out have shown an increase in the porosity and water absorption of the mortar with a decrease in the density, thus making the mortar lighter. It was also noted a decrease in the mortar’s flexural and compressive strengths as a function of the percentage of fibres;nevertheless, the values remain within an acceptable range.