A Study on the Drying Shrinkage and Mechanical Properties of Fiber Reinforced Cement Composites Using Cellulose Nanocrystals

As part of the research on cement composites using cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) aqueous solution instead of general water, this study produced high-toughness cement composites reinforced with flax and steel fibers to improve the tensile deformation capacity, assessing the isothermal conduction calorimetry analysis, drying shrinkage, and strength characteristics. The mixing amount of CNCs was 0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 vol.% by volume of cement, and an aqueous solution was prepared using the ultrasonication dispersion method. When comparing the results of the experiment according to the CNC mixing ratio, CNCs at 0.8 vol.% led to an improvement in the shrinkage rate and mechanical performance compared with the plain specimen.