Physical and mechanical properties of gypsum-based composites reinforced with PVA and PP fibers

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polypropylene (PP) fibers on such properties of gypsum-based composites as workability, hydration kinetics, flexural strength and toughness. In recent decades, polymeric fibers have been widely applied in construction industry due to their good performance. Hence, several series of gypsum-based composites reinforced with PVA and PP fibers (6–12 mm length, 0–1.2% by volume fraction) were developed in this research and the physical, mechanical properties were tested. The results showed that PVA fibers could remarkably reduce the workability, accelerate the hydration process and increase the flexural strength and toughness of the hardened gypsum-based composites, compared to PP fibers. Through the use of SEM, it was observed that the ITZ between the PVA fiber and dihydrate crystals was remarkably compact and much small gap.