Flexural strength and microstructure of alkali-resistant glass fibre reinforced calcium aluminate-phenol resin composite

Calcium aluminate-phenol resin composites are a new class of macro-defect-free cements that have better water resistivity compared with polyvinyl acetate high alumina cement composites. In this paper the effects of alkali-resistant (AR) glass fibre reinforcement on the flexural strength and microstructure of calcium aluminate-phenol resin composite were investigated. The results showed that the flexural strength can be increased by adding fibres, but there is an optimum condition that is influenced by various factors, including fibre length and fibre content. The flexural strength of composites without fibre was 120 MPa but with 5%wt. AR glass fibre with 6 mm length reached 165 MPa. The microstructural studies with scanning electron microscopy are also consistent with flexural strength tests; it was shown that the dispersing of fibre in a matrix was difficult when the fibre content was too high.