The Potential of Sisal Fibre as an Additive in Lightweight Foamed Concrete for Thermal Properties Enhancement

Lightweight foamed concrete (LFC) is extremely permeable, and its thermal properties reduce with rising in the number of voids. In turn, to improve its thermal properties, the solid matrix of LFC can be adjusted by incorporating several natural fibers. The influence of sisal fiber in LFC was not investigated before in the current body of knowledge. Hence, there is some ambiguity considering the mechanism by which and the extent to which the sisal fiber can influence LFC thermal properties. Hence, this study concentrates on distinguishing the potential use of sisal fiber in LFC. The purpose of this research is to determine LFC's thermal characteristics when sisal fiber is added. Casting and testing of densities of 800 kg/m3 and 1600 kg/m3 were done. Various weight fractions were employed pertaining to sisal fiber, i.e., 0.15%, 0.30%, 0.45% and 0.60%. The components of thermal properties, which consist of specific heat, thermal conductivity as well as thermal diffusivity were evaluated. To get comparable results, we fixed the water to cement ratio as 0.45 while keeping constant the cement to sand ratio at 1:1.5. It was seen that optimum results were achieved with the addition of 0.45% of sisal fiber with regard to all the thermal characteristics regarded in this exploration. At 0.45% weight fraction about sisal fiber, maximum compaction was achieved with fibers as well as the cementitious matrix, which ensued in good mix uniformity. Beyond the optimum level pertaining to the presence of sisal fiber, it could be seen that fibers would agglomerate and exhibit non-uniform dispersion, which resulted in a decline with regards to the entire thermal characteristics assessed.