Flexural Strength Properties of Slurry Infiltrated Fibrous Concrete (SIFCON) Beams using Miraculous Berry (Thaumatococcus daniellii) Fiber as Reinforcement

This study investigated the flexural characteristics of slurry infiltrated fibrous concrete made with miraculous berry fiber (thaumatococcus daniellii) thereby assessing its potentials as a replacement for steel reinforcing material for economical construction methods. The stems of the miraculous berry plant were collected, freed of their inner central pith with their hard bark remaining, which are the fibers. They were sun-dried, cut in sizes of 400 mm and 80 mm to fit into 100 x 100 x 500 mm beam molds. The fibers were infiltrated with cement slurry at the tension zone of the beams to 10 mm, 20 mm and 30 mm thicknesses and filled up with 90 mm, 80 mm and 70 mm thickness of concrete. Plain concrete beams without cement slurry and fiber were cast to act as control. The fiber was subjected to tensile test and the cast beams to flexural strength examinations. The result showed that the miraculous berry fiber possessed a tensile strength of 48.38 MPa and the height and volume of the slurry infiltration significantly influence the failure loads that caused deflection, cracking and ultimate failure.

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