Cost-Effective Engineered Cementitious Composites with Hybrid PVA and Basalt/PP Fiber: A Study on Compressive, Tensile and Impact Performance

Abstract

Currently, oil-coated PVA fibers are the most commonly used material in ECC research. However, the high price limits the application of PVA-ECC in practical engineering. In order to reduce the cost, one of the methods is to partially replace the PVA fibers in ECC. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of PVA/BF-ECC and PVA/PP-ECC, polyvinyl alcohol fibers (PVA), basalt fibers (BFs) and polypropylene fibers (PP) were added at 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% by volume of PVA in addition to 1% by volume of PVA. Subsequently, tensile, compression and drop-weight impact tests were conducted on single or hybrid fiber concrete. The results showed that the post-peak compression toughness, tensile strength, and initial cracking impact strength of PVA/BF-ECC and PVA/PP-ECC increased significantly with the increase in the volume ratio of BF and PP fibers, while the performance of PVA-ECC materials with the same fiber volume ratio decreased slightly. Therefore, the cost can be reduced by designing hybrid PVA/BF-ECC materials that meet the performance requirements. The experimental evidence presented in this study demonstrates the feasibility and reasonable prospect of the new hybrid PVA/BF-ECC.

Influence of Polymer Fibers on the Structure and Properties of Modified Variatropic Vibrocentrifuged Concrete

“…Such scientific deficiencies are especially pronounced in non-traditional types of fibers for normal-density concrete and, first of all, for variatropic concrete [ 7 ]. Note that in the technology of normal-density concrete, durable types of fibers, such as steel and basalt, are often used, and polypropylene polymer fibers are used much less frequently [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. However, in our opinion, an interesting direction that can lead to a number of new results is dispersed reinforcement of variatropic concrete with polymer fibers, namely polypropylene fiber.…”

“…Polypropylene and basalt fibers are the most popular and most often used in the technology of normal-density concrete, and the effectiveness of their use has been confirmed by many scientific studies [ 8 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ]. Basalt fiber is of inorganic origin, obtained by melting basalt rock in smelting furnaces and drawing continuous threads from this melt through special dies, which are subsequently dried and chopped into fibers.…”

“…Various dispersed materials are no exception, used in many countries as reinforcing microfiber for building structures, and primarily for composite composition, in particular concrete [1][2][3]. As for concrete composites, preference in the most developed construction technologies is given Polymers 2024, 16, 642 2 of 27 to the most efficient structures in terms of mechanical, physical, energy and operational characteristics. In this regard, variatropic concretes are one of the most effective and progressive types of concrete [4][5][6].…”

“…In [9], the introduction of basalt fiber in an amount of 0.2% increases the crack resistance and bearing capacity of concrete beams. The use of basalt fiber in [12,13] during the Polymers 2024, 16, 642 3 of 27 manufacture of concrete-filled round steel tubular columns with recycled aggregate can improve their strength characteristics. In works [14][15][16][17], the introduction of basalt fibers in dosages from 0.5% to 1.5% is the most effective and improves such characteristics of cement composites as compressive strength, bending strength and impact strength.…”

Study of Low-Velocity Impact Behavior of Hybrid Fiber-Reinforced Metal Laminates

“…Hybrid composites are composite materials made by combining two or more fibers in the same matrix, in which the fibers can be selected from natural fibers, artificial fibers, or synthetic fibers, and various fibers can be arranged in different layup sequences to optimize the performance of the composites. Compared with single-fiber-reinforced composites, hybrid composites have the advantages of reducing weight, lowering production costs, improving strength and stiffness, and improving impact resistance and fatigue resistance, which are widely used in aerospace, construction industry, health care, and other fields [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”