An Experimental Study of Human Hair in Concrete as Fibre Reinforcement

Since the ancient times, many researches and advancements were carried to enhance the physical and mechanical properties of concrete. Fiber reinforced concrete is one among those advancements which offers a convenient, practical and economical method for overcoming micro cracks and similar type of deficiencies. Since concrete is weak in tension hence some measures must be adopted to overcome this deficiency. Human hair is generally strong in tension; hence it can be used as a fiber reinforcement material. Human hair Fiber is an alternative non-degradable matter available in abundance and at cheap cost. It also reduces environmental problems. Also addition of human hair fibers enhances the binding properties, micro cracking control, Imparts ductility and also increases swelling resistance. The experimental findings in our studies would encourage future research in the direction for long term performance to extending this cost of effective type of fibers for use in structural applications. Experiments were conducted on concrete cubes, cylinders and beams of standard sizes with addition of various percentages of human hair fiber i.e., 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% by weight of cement, fine & coarse aggregate and results were compared with those of plain cement concrete of M-20 grade. For each percentage of human hair added in concrete, four cubes, three cylinders and three beams were tested for their respective mechanical properties at curing periods of 3 , 7 and 28 days. Optimum hair fiber content was obtained as 1.5% by weight of cement.