[Ferro List] Fiberglass Ferrocement

[Christopher Glasspool]

Hi Chuck,
You can purchase special glass mesh for stucco or ferrocement work, and it is treated for the alkali environment to combat a problem called alkali silica reaction (ASR), however it isn't a forever fix, and at some point the glass may succumb to it's inability to stay inert in the mix.
The problem can be mitigated somewhat by keeping the ph of the mix down. This is done with using a pozzolan aggregate, and by keeping moisture out. This is accomplished by both having a quality mix, and keeping the water ratio down. I believe Metakaolin is considered by some to be the better pozzolan for glass lamination.
My thought on using glass mesh would be to make a lamination where the glass was in the middle of the plane (the neutral zone), and have steel mesh on the outside where the stresses are. Increasing the thickness without increasing the steel should yield a great strength at reduced cost. This is not a tried or proofed method though. - chris


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