Bond Behaviour of Treated Natural Fibre in Concrete

The use of leaflet ribs from oil palm trees - Oil Palm Broom Fibres (OPBF) in reinforcingcement composites have shown some prospects according to recent studies. However, only little isunderstood regarding their bond interaction with cement matrices. Samples were prepared toinvestigate the pull-out response of OPBF in both single and combined form from concrete. For thecombined fibres, single OPBF strands were wound around one another longitudinally (in helical form)to form tendons. A comparison was made between the maximum bond strengths of untreated andtreated OPBF in concrete. The OPBF were pre-treated by soaking in sodium hydroxide andtriethylvinylsilane solutions to improve their bond strength with concrete. The reported treatmentscould improve the potential of OPBF tendons as reinforcement in lightly loaded concrete beamsultimately resulting in an environmentally friendly and affordable construction.