scholarly journals Experimental Study of the Mechanical Properties and Microstructures of Lightweight Toughness Cement-Based Composites

Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 3891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenhua Chen ◽  
Zhiyi Huang

The effects of cenospheres, an industrial waste residue, on the compressive strength, flexural strength, toughness, ductility, chemical component, microstructures, and micromechanics of lightweight toughness cement-based composites (LTCCs) by comprehensive experimental tests are explored in this paper. The results indicate that an increase in the amount of cenospheres leads to a decrease in the compressive and flexural strength of LTCCs. However, the specific strength of LTCCs increases with increasing cenosphere content. LTCCs containing 20% cenospheres and 1% fiber volume have the best toughness and ductility. Significant strain hardening occurs during the four-point bending and uniaxial tensile process. Furthermore, the incorporation of cenospheres promotes the hydration reaction of LTCCs due to its high pozzolanic activity. The LTCC cement paste has a low bonding strength to the fiber, which helps the fiber to be pulled out to produce greater bending deformation and tensile strain. The elastic modulus and hardness of the LTCC cement paste decrease linearly with increasing cenosphere content, which also causes the LTCC microstructure to become loose and more ettringite to generate. The weak interfacial transition zone between the cenospheres and the cement matrix is the important reason for the decreasing compressive strength of the LTCC. In conclusion, LTCC incorporating cenospheres is suitable for long-span steel deck pavements due to its light weight and excellent toughness. The successful application of cenospheres in engineering construction can save natural resources and contribute to sustainable development.

Author(s):  
Hosain Haddad Kolour ◽  
Warda Ashraf ◽  
Eric N. Landis

In this work, the effects of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) on workability, hydration reaction, microstructure, early age shrinkage, fracture properties, flexural strength, and compressive strength of cement paste were investigated. Six batches with variable CNF concentrations with the same water-to-cement (w/c) ratio (0.35) were tested. Flow table test showed a reduction in the workability as CNF dosage increased. Isothermal calorimetry (IC) tests showed that after 3 days, degree of hydration (DOH) improved up to 8% because of the addition of CNFs. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) tests at 7 and 28 days showed no significant changes in DOH for all pastes. After 7 days, mixture with 0.15% CNF resulted in up to 31% improvement in compressive strength. For 0.09% CNF addition, cement paste showed 26% increase in compressive strength after 28 days. Tests revealed that adding a small quantity of CNF (0.06%) along with entraining 0.05 extra water reduces autogenous shrinkage by 49% at a cement paste with w/c = 0.30. For interpreting the results, a tunnels, reservoirs, and bridges (TR&B) model is proposed. This model suggests that, as proposed by others, CNFs can modify microstructure by providing tunnels for transporting water to unhydrated cement grain. Because of their hydrophilicity, CNFs retain water and work as reservoirs (internal curing), which explains the improvement in properties at low w/c ratios. Significant increases in fracture energy (up to 60%) and flexural strength (up to 116%) suggest that CNFs are an effective toughening mechanism, acting as bridges that increase the energy required for crack propagation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4546
Author(s):  
Kaiyue Zhao ◽  
Peng Zhang ◽  
Bing Wang ◽  
Yupeng Tian ◽  
Shanbin Xue ◽  
...  

Cement-based materials prepared with activated water induced by a magnetic field or electric field represent a possible solution to environmental issues caused by the worldwide utilization of chemical admixtures. In this contribution, electric- and magnetic-activated water have been produced. The workability and mechanical properties of cement mortar prepared with this activated water have been investigated. The results indicate that the pH and absorbance (Abs) values of the water varied as the electric and magnetic field changed, and their values increased significantly, exhibiting improved activity compared with that of the untreated water. In addition, activated water still retains activity within 30 min of the resting time. The fluidity of the cement paste prepared with electric-activated water was significantly larger than that of the untreated paste. However, the level of improvement differed with the worst performance resulting from cement paste prepared with alternating voltage activated water. In terms of mechanical properties, both compressive strength and flexural strength obtained its maximum values at 280 mT with two processing cycles. The compressive strength increased 26% as the curing time increased from 7 days to 28 days and flexural strength increased by 31%. In addition, through the introduction of magnetic-activated water into cement mortar, the mechanical strength can be maintained without losing its workability when the amount of cement is reduced.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2612
Author(s):  
Piotr Smarzewski

This study investigates the fracture properties of high performance cementitious composites (HPCC) with four different types of fibres and with volume fraction content 3%. The four fibres are steel hooked end (S), polypropylene crimped (PP), basalt chopped (B), and glass (G) fibres. The tests were carried out in accordance with the RILEM recommendations. In order to examine the fresh properties of HPCC the slump flow tests were performed. Twelve fibre reinforced HPCC beam specimens with notch were cast and tested using central point loading experiments. In addition, experimental tests of the compressive strength and splitting tensile strength were carried out. The test results made it possible to obtain representative fracture parameters, such as the equivalent strengths, residual strengths, and fracture energy of fibre reinforced HPCC. The S fibre specimens showed the best performance in terms of workability, compressive strength, tensile splitting strength, and fracture energy at large deflection. On the other hand, G fibre specimens exhibited the best performance in terms of flexural strength, equivalent flexural strength at higher deflection, and residual flexural strength at lower deflection. In terms of equivalent flexural strength at lower deflection and residual flexural strength at higher deflection, basalt fibre specimens performed the best. On the contrary, polypropylene fibre reinforced beam specimens revealed the highest deflection capacity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 262 ◽  
pp. 06002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Dobiszewska ◽  
Waldemar Pichór ◽  
Paulina Szołdra

The study evaluates the use of waste basalt powder as a replacement of cement to enhance hydration of cement and mortar properties. The basalt powder is a waste resulting from preparation of aggregate used in asphalt mixture production. Previous studies have shown that analysed waste used as a fine aggregate replacement has a beneficial effect on some properties of mortar and concrete, i.e. compressive strength, flexural strength and freeze resistance. The present study shows the results of the research concerning the modification of cement paste and mortar with basalt powder. The modification consists in adding the powder waste as a partial replacement of cement. The percentages of basalt powder in this research are 0-40% and 0-20% by mass of cement in the pastes and mortars respectively. The experiments were carried out to determine the influence of basalt powder on cement hydration, as well as compressive and flexural strength. Results indicate that addition of basalt powder as a replacement of cement leads to deterioration of compressive strength. The flexural strength of mortar is improved in some cases. Waste basalt powder only slightly influences the cement hydration.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 2937
Author(s):  
Huimin Chen ◽  
Chunyan Xie ◽  
Chao Fu ◽  
Jing Liu ◽  
Xiuli Wei ◽  
...  

Orthogonal test method was applied to analyze the strength properties of basalt-polypropylene mortar. The effect of basalt fiber length, polypropylene fiber length, basalt fiber volume content and polypropylene fiber volume content on the 28 d cube compressive strength and flexural strength were investigated. Test results show that comparing with flexural strength, the influence of basalt fiber length and polypropylene fiber length on compressive strength of mortar was greater than on flexural strength. The length of polypropylene fibers contributes the highest to the flexural strength. The effect of basalt fiber on mortar strength is the largest with 6 mm length and 4% content. Polypropylene fiber length has the greatest influence on the compressive strength of fiber mortar, followed by basalt fiber volume content. Volume content of polypropylene fiber has the greatest influence on flexural strength of fiber mortar, followed by polypropylene fiber length. According to the scoring of the efficacy coefficient method, the best ratio combination for compressive and flexural strength was the basalt fiber length of 9 mm, polypropylene fiber length of 6 mm, basalt fiber volume content of 4% and polypropylene fiber volume content of 4%. Compared with the blank samples, the 28 d compressive strength and 28 d flexural strength of the cement mortar samples were increased by 27.4% and 49% respectively. According to the test results, the properties of the fiber were analyzed and evaluated and the mechanism of fiber action and fiber microstructure were analyzed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 02024
Author(s):  
Waleed Abbas ◽  
Wasan Khalil ◽  
Ibtesam Nasser

Due to the rapid depletion of natural resources, the use of waste materials and by-products from different industries of building construction has been gaining increased attention. Geopolymer concrete based on Pozzolana is a new material that does not need the presence of Portland cement as a binder. The main focus of this research is to produce lightweight geopolymer concrete (LWGPC) using artificial coarse lightweight aggregate which produced from locally available bentonite clays. In this investigation, the binder is low calcium fly ash (FA) and the alkali activator is sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate in different molarities. The experimental tests including workability, fresh density, also, the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, water absorption and ultrasonic pulse velocity at the age of 7, 28 and 56 days were studied. The oven dry density and thermal conductivity at 28 days age are investigated. The results show that it is possible to produce high strength lightweight geopolymer concrete successfully used as insulated structural lightweight concrete. The 28-day compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength, dry density, and thermal conductivity of the produced LWGPC are 35.8 MPa, 2.6MPa, 5.5 MPa, 1835kg/m3, and 0.9567 W/ (m. K), respectively.


2011 ◽  
Vol 346 ◽  
pp. 30-33
Author(s):  
Hong Wei Wang

A designed experimental study has been conducted to investigate the effect of polypropylene fiber on the compressive strength and flexural properties of concrete containing silica fume, a large number of experiments have been carried out in this study. The flexural properties include flexural strength and flexural modulus of elasticity. On the basis of the experimental results of the specimens of six sets of mix proportions, the mechanism of action of polypropylene fiber on compressive strength, flexural strength and flexural modulus of elasticity has been analyzed in details. The results indicate that there is a tendency of increase in the compressive strength and flexural strength, and the flexural modulus of elasticity of concrete containing silica fume decrease gradually with the increase of fiber volume fraction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Gwang-Hee Heo ◽  
Jong-Gun Park ◽  
Ki-Chang Song ◽  
Jong-Ho Park ◽  
Hyung-Min Jun

In the present study, SiO2 particles were coated on the surface of carbon fibers by means of chemical reaction of silane coupling agent (glycidoxypropyl trimethoxysilane, GPTMS) and colloidal SiO2 sol to improve the interfacial bonding force between fibers and matrix in cement matrix. The surface of the modified carbon fibers was confirmed through a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The mechanical properties of SiO2-coated carbon fiber mortar and uncoated carbon fiber mortar with different fiber lengths (6 mm and 12 mm) and fiber volume fractions (0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%) were compared and analyzed. The experimental results show that the flow values of the carbon fiber mortar were greatly disadvantageous in terms of fluidity due to the nonhydrophilicity of fibers and fiber balls, and the unit weight decreased significantly as the fiber volume fractions increased. However, the air content increased more or less. In addition, regardless of whether the fibers were coated, the compressive strength of carbon fiber-reinforced mortar (CFRM) composite specimens tended to gradually decrease as the fiber volume fractions increased. On the other hand, in case of the SiO2-coated CFRM composite specimens, the flexural strength was significantly increased compared to uncoated CFRM composite specimens and plain mortar specimens, and the highest flexural strength was obtained at 12 mm and 1.5%, particularly. It can be seen that the new carbon fiber surface modification method employed in this study was very effective in enhancing the flexural strength as cement-reinforcing materials.


2011 ◽  
Vol 374-377 ◽  
pp. 1499-1506
Author(s):  
Rong Hui Zhang ◽  
Jian Li

In this study, the effect of micro-expansion high strength grouting material (EGM) and Modified polypropylene coarse fiber (M-PP fiber) on the mechanical properties of lightweight concrete are investigated. The influence of EGM and M-PP fiber on compressive strength , flexural strength and drying shrinkage of concrete are researched, and flexural fracture toughness are calculated. Test results show that the effect of EGM and M-PP fiber volume fraction (Vf) on flexural strength and fracture toughness is extremely prominent, compressive strength is only slightly enhanced, and the rate of shrinkage is obviously decreased. It is observed that the shape of the descending branch of load-deflection and the ascending branch of shrinkage-age tends towards gently with the increase of Vf. And M-PP fiber reinforced lightweight aggregate concrete is more economical.


2012 ◽  
Vol 629 ◽  
pp. 477-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Chao Feng ◽  
Chun Wei Gong ◽  
Yun Peng Wu ◽  
De Cheng Feng ◽  
Ning Xie

Cement paste with addition of a small amount of (0.9wt%) nano-TiO2 were prepared. Flexural strength and compressive strength testing results showed that by adding a small amount of nano TiO2 with good dispersion, the 28-day flexural strength and compressive strength of cement paste modified by nano-TiO2 was increased by 16.12%, and 14.15%, respectively.


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