Effects of Steel Fibers Geometry on the Mechanical Properties of SIFCON Concrete

Abstract

This research aims to shed light on the effect of steel fiber shape, length, diameter, and aspect ratio on the mechanical properties of slurry infiltration fiber reinforced concrete (SIFCON). This study comprised of casting and testing three groups of SIFCON specimens with 6% fiber volume fraction. The first group was reinforced with micro steel fiber, other reinforced by hook end steel fibers, while the last group of specimens reinforced by mixing two shape of steel fiber as hybrid fiber (3% micro steel fiber +3% hook end steel fiber). Silica fume was used as a partial replacement (10%) by weight of cement. 3.7% super plasticizer was used to make the slurry liquid enough to penetrate through the fiber network, while the w/c ratio kept constant at 0.33. It was found from the results achieved that the compressive strength, static modulus of elasticity, splitting tensile strength and toughness are extremely affected by the geometry of fibers because the network of fibers formed and their density depends on the size and shape of fibers. Where the values of micro steel fibers are far outweighing the values of hooked end fibers. It was also deduced from empiricism results that combining long and short fibers gives excellent results.

Mechanical Characteristics of Slurry Infiltrated Fiber Concrete

“…This test was carried out under [20], using 100×100×400mm prismatic beams tested as simply supported beams with third point load, with a steady loading rate of about 0.015MPa/sec with a maximum load of 150kN, as shown in Figure 8.…”

Stress–strain relationship of ductile materials and flexural behavior of ductile over-reinforced concrete beams

“…Fibers are placed in the mold by hand or with the use of fiber--dispersing units (Shelorkar, 2021). Vibration is often required to achieve proper slurry infiltration of the fiber bed (Khamees, Kadhum & Alwash, 2020). While in FRC, fibers are added to the dry or wet concrete mix.…”

Investigating the Hybrid Effect of Micro-steel Fibres and Polypropylene Fibre-Reinforced Magnesium Phosphate Cement Mortar

“…This network of PP fibres can effectively inhibit the development of micro-cracks, leading to the highest enhancement in toughness (400.1%) in comparison with other fibres. Given that the low elastic modulus of PP fibres can reduce the strength of MPC composites (Hu et al, 2020a(Hu et al, , 2020bSarangi & Sinha, 2006), while the density and cost of MSF is relatively high (Khamees et al, 2020;Qian & Stroeven, 2000), the hybrid effect of PP fibres and MSF in MPC is, therefore, essential to be investigated for designing the high-performance MPC composites.…”