ABSTRACT
Over the last decade intensive research and development work has taken place in the field of fibre reinforced concrete. Knowledge of fibre manufacturing, fibre handling and fibre concrete production has increased substantially and various aspects of applications have been studied to a great extent that now can be found in the market. Asbestos fibre
Abstract This paper reports the current research and developments on the use
of coconut fibres as reinforcement for thin cement sheets as roofing materials. The paper presents extensive test data on the flexural properties of cement sheets both in flat and corrugated forms at different levels of fibre concentration tested at various ages. The tests on 500×100×10 mm flexural plates and on 1220×630×10 mm corrugated sheets are reported. The load deflection curves and cracking performance are also studied based on several curing regimes. Other tests result reported are water absorption, water tightness and bulk density. It is shown that the performance characteristic of thin sheets is very much a function of fibre concentration and method of specimen fabrication. Coconut fibre reinforced thin cement sheets has a good prospect in a developing country like Malaysia especially for small scale industries.
