These favorable characteristics qualify BF to be a good alternative to steel, glass, carbon, or aramid fiber as a reinforcing material for enhancing mechanical properties of plain concrete. In all, BF possesses excellent physical and mechanical properties, including high chemical stability, noncombustible and nonexplosive nature, resistance to high temperature, and high strength and durability. In comparison with synthetic fibers such as polypropylene fibers and polyvinyl alcohol fibers, the BFs have higher elastic modulus. In addition, in comparison with carbon fibers, the BFs have good resistance to chemical attack, impact load and fire, and greater failure strain. The BFs have better tensile strength but cheaper than the E-glass fibers. īasalt fiber (BF) is extruded from melted basalt rock, with environmentally friendly and nonhazardous nature, and is currently available commercially. In terms of synthetic fibers like polymeric fiber, their low elastic modulus, low melting point, and poor interfacial bonding with inorganic matrices limited their applications. Although carbon fiber is chemically inert and stiffer, the cost is too high for common engineering applications. But GFRC may be easily degraded in the alkaline environment of concrete. Glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) has been used extensively to produce thin, lightweight structural elements. However, steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) has a low strength-to-weight ratio, weaker corrosion resistance, and fiber balling at high dosages. Īlthough a variety of fiber reinforcing materials exist, steel fiber is one of the most used types in fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) for structural applications. ĭifferent types of fibers such as asbestos, cellulose, steel, carbon, basalt, aramid, polypropylene, and glass have been used to reinforce cement products and to strengthen concrete and steel structures in civil engineering infrastructures and military applications due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, good fatigue performance, and excellent durability properties. When mixed into concrete, randomly distributed fibers are able to bridge these cracks and arrest their development therefore, the addition of fibers can enhance the mechanical behavior of plain concrete, such as rheology, tensile strength, flexural strength, fatigue and abrasion resistance, impact, as well as ductility, energy absorption, toughness, and postcracking capacity. Consequently, plain concrete is susceptible to cracking under tensile stress. However, plain concrete (PC) is a brittle material with poor tensile properties and low ductility. IntroductionĬoncrete is known as one of the most conventionally and widely consumed construction materials, which has several advantages such as economic, durability, components availability, good performance in service environment, and high compressive strength. All the findings of the present study may provide reference for the material proportion design of BFRC. Results of the study also indicated that early shrinkage cracks decrease with the increase of fiber volume fraction, and when the volume fraction of 0.20% is used, no cracks were observed. As the length of basalt fibers increases, the development of early shrinkage cracks decreases initially and then increases slowly and the optimal fiber length is 18.0 mm. The addition of a small amount of short basalt fibers can result in a considerable increase in both compressive strength and modulus of rupture (MoR) of BFRC and that the proposed fiber length and content are 12.0 mm and 0.10%∼0.15%, respectively. Based on experimental values of mechanical properties and anti-dry-shrinkage cracking resistance of BFRC, the reasonable basalt fiber length and fiber volume fractions are identified. Experimental results indicated that clumping of fibers may occur at relatively higher fiber volume fraction resulting in mixing and casting problems.
Backcalculation modulus 6.0 series#
In order to address the influence of basic parameters such as fiber volume fraction (0.05∼0.40%), fiber length (12∼36 mm) of BF, and compressive strength (30, 40, and 50 MPa) of concrete on both physical and mechanical properties of BFRC including compressive strength, tensile and flexural strength, workability, and anti-dry-shrinkage cracking properties, a series of standard material tests were conducted. Basalt fiber reinforced concrete (BFRC) has been widely utilized in various constructions such as buildings, large industrial floors, and highways, due to its excellent physical and mechanical properties, as well as low production cost.