Journal of Civil Engineering
Vol. 39 No. 2 (2024)

Reinforcing Bricks with Natural Fibres: A Review

Jen Hua Ling (Unknown)
Yong Tat Lim (Unknown)
Wen Kam Leong (Unknown)
How Teck Sia (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
21 Jul 2025

Abstract

Natural fibres are biomass waste that agriculture generates in abundance. Lacking environmental awareness, biomass waste is often improperly disposed of. This raises environmental concerns. Natural fibres might be used as building materials, such as bricks. This might be a viable alternative for sustainable development. In this study, articles on the use of natural fibres in bricks are reviewed. The purposes were to study their influence on the structural behaviour of fibre-reinforced bricks and to identify their prospects and challenges. Natural fibres were found to reduce the brick's density, drying shrinkage, thermal conductivity, and workability. They boosted the compressive, tensile, flexural, and tensile splitting strengths, as well as the water absorption capacity. Natural fibres can only be used in limited amounts in bricks, usually less than 5%. This prevents significant strength loss and excessive water absorption. This study points out the drawbacks of natural fibres, such as inconsistent properties, dimensional changes, combustibility, decay susceptibility, and microbiological growth susceptibility. These shortcomings should be addressed before commercialising fibre-reinforced bricks. To overcome the problems, natural fibres may need to be carefully screened and treated before being used in bricks.

Copyrights © 2024






Journal Info

Abbrev

jce

Publisher

Subject

Civil Engineering, Building, Construction & Architecture Engineering Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Materials Science & Nanotechnology Mechanical Engineering Transportation

Description

Journal of Civil Engineering (eISSN 2579-9029/pISSN 2086-1206) is a new journal that preceded by the previous Civil Engineering Department ITS Journal which was well known as Jurnal Teknologi dan Rekayasa Sipil (TORSI). TORSI journal was established in March 1981. In 2009, TORSI journal name was ...