Enhanced mechanical properties of cement mortar reinforced with carbon fibre reinforced polymer waste

Carbon fibre used in industries is in high demand, which leads to a large amount of waste and by-products in future. These materials can be employed as reinforcement in cement and concrete mixtures to improve the mechanical properties. With this aim, the experimental investigation detailed in this chapter intend to assess the effect of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) waste and carbon prepreg waste (CPP) of different contents on the mechanical properties of Portland cement mortar. Through laboratory testing conditions, the mechanical properties of reinforced cement mortars were measured by bending, compression and fracture toughness tests. Additionally, the shrinkage behaviour was observed by restrained drying shrinkage ring test. The test results highlighted a consistent improvement of the fracture toughness of the enhanced materials and absence of shrinkage macro cracks after 28 days of curing.