Interlayer reinforcement combined with fiber reinforcement for extruded lightweight mortar elements

Carla Matthäus, Nadine Kofler, Thomas Kränkel, Daniel Weger, Christoph Gehlen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

Lightweight mortar extrusion enables the production of monolithic exterior wall components with improved thermal insulation by installing air chambers and reduced material demand compared to conventional construction techniques. However, without reinforcement, the systems are not capable of bearing high flexural forces and, thus, the application possibilities are limited. Furthermore, the layer bonding is a weak spot in the system. We investigate a reinforcement strategy combining fibers in the mortar matrix with vertically inserted elements to compensate the layer bonding. By implementing fibers in the extruded matrix, the flexural strength can be increased almost threefold parallel to the layers. However, there is still an anisotropy between the layers as fibers are oriented during deposition and the layer bond is still mainly depending on hydration processes. This can be compensated by the vertical insertion of reinforcement elements in the freshly deposited layers. Corrugated wire fibers as well as short steel reinforcement elements were suitable to increase the flexural strength between the layers. As shown, the potential increase in flexural strength could be of a factor six compared to the reference (12 N/mm2 instead of 1.9 N/mm2). Thus, the presented methods reduce anisotropy in flexural strength due to layered production.

Original languageEnglish
Article number4778
Pages (from-to)1-17
Number of pages17
JournalMaterials
Volume13
Issue number21
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2020

Keywords

  • Additive manufacturing
  • Anisotropy
  • Extrusion
  • Fibers
  • Layer bonding
  • Lightweight aggregate mortar
  • Reinforcement
  • Vertical reinforcement

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