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S. Ahmad et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 34 (2015) 524-533; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.34.58 531 Figure 10 : Crack contouring around a pyrolyzed coconut shells particles inclusion. Figure 11 : Crack passing through a large inert particle and crack branching. Figure 12 : Crack propagation in cement composite matrix. C ONCLUSIONS n this presented research work, the inert micro sized particles were synthesized from coconut shells by means of pyrolysis. The cement composites were prepared incorporating these micro inert particles and the resulting composites were studied in detail for their fracture properties and effects of these particles on the crack surfaces. The results indicate that the carbonized particles additions in the cement matrix successfully modify the fracture surface of the cement composites and results in improved fracture properties, ductility and toughness. It is believed that the crack contouring and the crack pinning are the mechanisms, which can explain the increase of toughness in the cement composite samples. A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS he authors are grateful to Dr. Guastella Salvatore (DISAT, Politecnico di Torino) for FESEM and EDX analysis, to Dr. Mauro Giorcelli (DISAT, Politecnico di Torino) for Raman analysis, to Dr. Stefano Broggio (Mapei S.p.A.) for providing super-plasticizer and to Dr. Fulvio Canonico (Buzzi Unicem S.p.A.) for supplying cement. Sajjad Ahmad and Rao Arsalan Khushnood wish to acknowledge the PhD study grant of Higher Education Commission, Pakistan (Ref no. HRDI-UESTPs/HEC/2012/36). I T