GYPSUM COMPOSITES REINFORCED WITH FABRICS SISAL FIBER HORNIFICATE
Superplasticizer additive. Damping. Mechanical behavior. Impact test. Plas-ter paste.
The insertion of vegetable fibers, such as sisal, in ceramic matrices is a way to improve the flexural strength, tenacity and post-cracking behavior of the material. Associated with this, the physical hornification treatment maximizes these benefits. Therefore, the present work sought to develop a composite of gypsum reinforced with hornified sisal fiber fabrics and analyze the influence of the treatment on the mechanical behavior of the material. For this purpose, a mixture of gypsum, water and a superplasticizer ad-ditive suitable for the manual molding process of the composite and a structural fabric of sisal bundles was developed. During the composites development process, the in-fluence of the number and direction of the reinforcement layers on the material's me-chanical performance was evaluated. All materials used to make the composite were chemically, physically and mechanically characterized. Regarding the composite, the mechanical performance was evaluated through four-point bending, tenacity, impact and damping tests. With the insertion of the fabric reinforcement, a significant improve-ment in the mechanical properties of the composite was observed, providing an in-crease in tenacity and greater structural stability in the tested samples, but no improve-ment in the mechanical performance of the composites was observed with the realiza-tion of hornification of the fabric.