4th International Conference on Bio-based Building Materials

Depending on the intended use, some cement-based construction materials, such as paste, mortar and concrete, need to be fibre reinforced. In these materials, fibres play the same mechanical role as ossein, the elastic collagen fibres in animal bones that guarantees the resistance to fracture. Although commonly used fibres are made of various materials, such as steel, glass, polymers etc., animal and plant fibres can also be used in building materials. Among them, wool of sheep, a waste material in several countries, can effectively reinforce pastes, mortars and concretes. In addition to the research already performed in the field of cement-based composites, the use of sheep wool as reinforcement of gypsum-based composite is experimentally investigated herein for the first time. As a result, sheep wool reinforcement provides high fracture toughness, due to an excellent adhesion, and could be a valid alternative to the current industrial fibres in reinforced gypsum manufacts.