Effect of volume fraction and aspect ratio of Agave fiber Cantula Roxb against compressive strength and direct tensile strength

One of the properties of concrete is resistance to compressive strength but weak against tensile strength. One method to improve the performance of concrete against tensile strength is by adding fiber to the concrete mixture. The fiber used in this study is a type of natural fiber in the form of fiber cantula (Agave Cantula Roxb). This fiber is used as a mixture for Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) in the form of short fibers which are randomly distributed to mortar mixtures with polymeric material added as a Polymer Modified Mortar (PMM). The addition of fiber is done in terms of two aspects: based on the aspect ratio of fiber length 1.0 cm, 1.5 cm, 2.0 cm, 2.5 cm, 3.0 cm, and the aspects of volume fraction, which are 1.0%, 2.0%, 3.0% and 4.0% of the cube specimen volume. The test object is tested at 3 days and 28 days. The results show that the aspect ratio of fiber length 2.0 cm and 3.0% fraction volume give the optimum value of direct tensile strength compared to the variation in fiber length and other fraction volumes. These results indicate that the use of cantula fiber on a polymer modified mortar (PMM) can be used to increase the tensile strength of the concrete well