Sorption Capabilities of Polypropylene/Modified Polypropylene Fibers
Mária Petková,
Anna Ujhelyiová,
Jozef Ryba,
Marcela Hricová,
Vladimír Kovár
Affiliations
Mária Petková
Institute of Natural and Synthetic Polymers, Technology and Materials, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technologyn Bratislava, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
Anna Ujhelyiová
Institute of Natural and Synthetic Polymers, Technology and Materials, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technologyn Bratislava, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
Jozef Ryba
Institute of Natural and Synthetic Polymers, Technology and Materials, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technologyn Bratislava, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
Marcela Hricová
Institute of Natural and Synthetic Polymers, Technology and Materials, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technologyn Bratislava, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
Vladimír Kovár
Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Technology and Materials, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
The aim of this paper is to present the influence of the modification of polypropylene (PP) fibers on the sorption capabilities of the fibers. The physical modification of the PP fibers was made with inorganic nanoadditives in the mass, with a view to improving the properties of silicate composites used in the construction industry. The compositions of the modified PP fibers using two different nanoadditives were based on previous work, as well as the work presented in this paper. The prepared modified PP fibers were compared with pure PP fibers, and their mechanical and thermomechanical properties were evaluated. Another task of this work was to evaluate and compare the sorption capabilities of these fibers without the preparation of concrete blocks. Therefore, the Washburn method was used. However, the obtained results led us to the conclusion that the given method points to the excellent transport properties of PP fibers if such properties are used to evaluate the sorption of the fibers. However, the sorption of the prepared modified fibers could be associated with the nanoadditives used, which have a higher water sorption capacity compared to pure PP fibers, and this could also ensure the higher adhesion of the modified PP fibers with inorganic additives to the cement matrix compared to the adhesion of the hydrophobic PP fibers.
