Recently, the utilization of renewable natural cellulosic materials, such as wood, plants, and waste paper in the preparation of building materials has attracted significant interest. This is due to their advantageous properties, low environmental impact and low cost. The objective of this paper is to investigate the influence of recycled cellulosic fibers (in the amount 0.5 wt % of the filler and binder weight) and superplasticizer (in the amount 0.5 wt % of the cement weight) on the resulting properties of cement composites (consistency of fresh mixture, density, thermal conductivity, and compressive and flexural strength) for hardening times of 1, 3, 7, 28, and 90 days. Plasticizer use improved the workability of fresh cement mixture. In comparison to the reference sample, the results revealed a decrease in density of 6.8% and in the thermal conductivity of composites with cellulosic fibers of 34%. The highest values of compressive (48.4 MPa) and flexural (up to 7 MPa) strength were achieved for hardened fiber cement specimens with plasticizer due to their significantly better dispersion of cement particles and improved bond strength between fibers and matrix.

This paper provides the investigation of thermal analysis of cellulose fibres which will be used into building materials as a partial filler replacement. Cellulosic fibres come from two various sources: bleached wood pulp and unbleached waste paper whereas these natural fibres have different cellulose contents and another manufacturing process. Natural fibres have been widely used as reinforcing fillers in composite materials in recent years. As a result, they are subjected to thermal degradation during composite processing. It is thus of practical significance to understand and predict the thermal decomposition process of natural fibres and the knowledge will help better design the composite process and estimate the influence on composite properties by the thermal decomposition of natural fibres. The results obtained from the thermal analysis of cellulosic fibres showed differences in their thermal decomposition and also differences in the weight loss due to their chemo-mechanical treatment, the presence of impurities and CaCO₃originating from filler in paper making.

Nowadays, there are new approaches directing to processing of non-conventional fibre-cement composites for application in the housing construction. Vegetable cellulosic fibres coming from natural resources used as reinforcement in cost-effective and environmental friendly building products are in the spotlight. The applying of natural fibres in cement based composites is narrowly linked to the ecological building sector, where a choice of materials is based on components including recyclable, renewable raw materials and low-resource manufacture techniques. In this paper, two types of cellulosic fibres coming from wood pulp and recycled waste paper with 0.2%; 0.3% and 0.5% of fibre addition into cement mixtures were used. Differences in the physical characteristics (flowability, density, coefficient of thermal conductivity and water absorbability) of 28 days hardened fibre-cement composites are investigated. Addition of cellulosic fibres to cement mixture caused worsening the workability of fresh mixture as well as absorbability of hardened composites due to hydrophilic nature of biomaterial, whereas density and thermal conductivity of manufactured cement based fibre plaster are enhanced. The physical properties of cement plasters based on cellulosic fibres depend on structural, physical characteristics of cellulosic fibres, their nature and processing.

Sustainability goals are essential driving principles for the development of innovative materials in the building industry. Natural plant (e.g. hemp) fibers represent an attractive alternative as reinforcing material due to its good properties and sustainability prerequisites. In this study, hemp-based composite materials, designed for building application as non-load bearing material, providing both thermal insulation and physico–mechanical properties, are presented. Composite materials were produced by bonding hemp hurds with a novel inorganic binder (MgO-based cement) and then were characterized in terms of physical properties (bulk density, water absorption), thermal properties (thermal conductivity) and mechanical properties (compressive and tensile strength). The composites exhibited promising physical, thermal and mechanical characteristics, generally comparable to commercially available products. In addition, the hemp-based composites have the advantage of a significantly low environmental impact (thanks to the nature of both the dispersed and the binding phase) and no negative effects on human health. All things considered, the composite materials seem like very promising materials for the building industry application.

This paper presents physical and mechanical properties of cementitious composites/plasters containing cellulosic fibers in portion 2.0% and 5.0% of filler replacement after 28 days of hardening. Cellulosic fibers (Greencel) originated from bleached wood pulp and unbleached waste paper used in this experimental work were characterized from the point of view cellulose structure. Experimental investigations reveal that adding cellulosic fibers reduces composites density (up to 8.2 %) in comparison with composites without any fibers. Moreover, the presence of wood pulp and recycled fibers in composites cause higher values of water absorbability than sample without fibers. Also, the decrease in compressive strength values for tested fiber cement plasters was observed (14.1 - 18.0 MPa) in comparison to reference sample (26.6 MPa). But the identified compressive strength values are in accordance with European standard (5 MPa) for plasters.