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This paper reports new hierarchical cementitious composites developed using microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), sisal fibers and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the dispersing agent. MCC was dispersed in water without and with CTAB at different concentrations using ultrasonication and the optimum CTAB concentration for achieving homogeneous and stable MCC suspensions was found to be 40%. Hierarchical composites were fabricated using MCC (0.1–1.5 wt% of cement), sisal fibers (20 mm, 0.25% and 0.50 wt% of cement), 40% CTAB and tri-butyl phosphate as the defoaming agent. Mechanical strengths of composites improved significantly at 0.1 wt% MCC, which along with 0.5% sisal fibers improved compressive and flexural strengths by ~ 24% and ~ 18%, respectively. The hybrid reinforcement exhibited a synergistic effect on the fracture behavior of composites improving the fracture energy up to 40%. Hierarchical composites also showed improved fiber-matrix bonding, lower porosity and water absorption, superior hydration, carbonation resistance and durability up to 90 ageing cycles.

This research work attempts, for the first time, to use sisal fibres and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) in combination for developing multi-scale cementitious composites with improved strength, modulus as well as fracture energy. MCC (0.1% to 3.0 wt.%) was first dispersed in water with the help of Pluronic F-127 surfactant (20% of MCC wt.) using ultrasonication and subsequently, the MCC suspensions were added to cement-sand mixtures containing sisal fibers (0.25 to 2 wt.% of cement). Visual observation, UV-Vis analysis and optical microscopy suggested that ultrasonication for only 15 min led to homogeneous MCC suspensions without significant sedimentation and Pluronic significantly reduced the total agglomerated area and the average MCC particle size in the suspensions. The use of up to 2 wt.% sisal fibres (without MCC) increased the fracture energy of cementitious composites by 351% (after 28 days hydration) but reduced the compressive and flexural strengths by 38% and 13%, respectively. On the contrary, MCC (without sisal fibres) could strongly improve the compressive strength (20.5% using 0.1wt.% MCC) but was not found so effective in improving the fracture energy (improved by 29% using 0.1 wt.% MCC). However, multi-scale reinforcements containing 0.1 wt.% MCC and 0.25-0.5 wt.% sisal fibres led to improvements of up to 18.4%, 30.1%, 30% and 100% in the compressive strength, flexural strength, flexural modulus and fracture energy of composites, presenting distinct advantages over only sisal fibre or MCC-based reinforcements. The results indicated the formation of higher amount of hydration products in multi-scale composites due to the positive effect of MCC on cement hydration. Superior hydration in the multi-scale composites resulted in a denser microstructure with a lower pore size and an improved fibre-matrix interface, improving significantly the strength, modulus and fracture energy.

In this work, multi-scale cementitious composites were developed using microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and sisal fibers as reinforcements. Mechanical performance of plain mortar and reinforced mortar samples containing MCC (0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6%) and 0.50% sisal fibers (with respect to cement weight) was investigated. The experimental work was carried out by dispersing MCC in water with the help of a non-ionic surfactant (Pluronic F-127) using ultrasonication energy. The aqueous suspensions of MCC were then added to the cement-sand mixture along with sisal fibers. The developed cementitious composites were cured inside water for two different hydration periods, 28 and 56 days. It was observed that the fracture energy of the cementitious composites increased by 95% and 24%, respectively after 28 days and 56 days of hydration using 0.1% MCC and 0.5% sisal fibre.