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Preliminary Assessment of Rice Husk Ash (RHA) as Functional Interphase Agent in Sustainable Composite Systems for Structural Strengthening

Over the last few years, the effectiveness of textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) composite systems for structural retrofitting has led to the widespread adoption of these materials in the practice and to the issue of up-to-date design guidelines. Nonetheless, the weak interfacial bonding that is frequently observed between matrix and fibres is likely to cause inconsistent failure modes and, generally speaking, to severely limit the reinforcing potential of the textile. A promising solution to tackle this issue consists in treating the surface of the reinforcing fibres with a functional coating to improve the adhesion at the interphase. In this paper, a pilot study is presented to assess the effectiveness of a fully sustainable polymer coating, consisting in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) loaded with with rice husk ash (RHA) or with a 50/50 mixture of RHA and silica fume (SF). The coating was applied on basalt fabrics to reinforce TRM coupons that were mechanically tested under uni-axial tensile loads. The mechanical properties of the TRM samples were significantly increased by up to 20%, and the peak load was attained at a higher deformability level, which is a clue of the enhanced ductility of the reinforced elements.