Luffa fibers and gamma radiation as improvement tools of polymer concrete

This work presents a study on the effects of luffa fibers and gamma radiation as tools for mechanical improvement of polymer concrete based on a polyester resin/foundry sand mixture. Different concentrations of irradiated and non-irradiated fibers (0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 wt%) and higher irradiation doses were used. The results show that the compressive strength and flexural strength values decrease gradually when increasing irradiated-fiber concentration, respect to plain concrete (without fibers and non-irradiated). Conversely an opposite effect occurs when polymer concrete is gamma irradiated, i.e. both the degree of polymerization and cross-linking of the polymeric resin are increasing. Moreover, the values for compressive and flexural strain as well as dynamic elasticity modulus increase when increasing irradiated-fiber concentration. The highest bending deformation is obtained with 0.9 wt% of fibers and 100 kGy of radiation dose.