CICE 2010 - The 5th International Conference on FRP Composites in Civil Engineering September 27-29, 2010, Beijing, China

Experimental Research on the Fundamental Mechanical Properties of Presoaked Basalt Fiber Concrete
Jianxun Ma (majx@mail.xjtu.edu.cn), Xuemei Qiu, Litao Cheng & Yunlong Wang Department of Civil Engineering, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian, China

ABSTRACT Presoaked basalt fiber concrete (PBFC) is a new kind of concrete reinforced with random short presoaked basalt fibers. In the paper, the applicability of the presoaked basalt fiber (PBF) as a strengthening material was investigated through various experimental works for mechanical characteristics and strengthening effects by changing its dosage and length, and compared with ordinary concrete. Experimental researches showed that: adding the presoaked basalt fiber on the condition of constant in matrix concrete, the influence on compressive strength was not noteworthy, but tensile strength was improved significantly. Form the results of the tests, it is concluded that presoaked basalt fiber can significantly reduce the brittleness of concrete, improving the toughness and deformation resistance. The presoaked basalt fiber can be regarded as a strengthening material for concrete structures. KEY WORDS

1 INTRODUCTION
Studies had shown that fiber reinforced concrete can significantly improve inherent defects of traditional concrete, such as tensile strength, low energy absorption. For the time being, Polypropylene fiber, Steel fiber, Carbon fiber and Glass fiber have been widely researched in fibers used to strength concrete. But without exception, its wide application was limited because of its flaws. Presoaked basalt fiber as the 21st century natural green and environmental protection and high-tech material presents many advantages in terms of high tensile strength, corrosion resistance, high temperaturelower price and other advantages, becoming a good alternative methodology among the FRP strengthening systems. The experimental research about presoaked basalt fiber has become a hot at home and abroad. This research investigated the effect and its degree on the fundamental mechanical properties of concrete with presoaked basalt fiber, by changing its dosage and length, hoping that the research will provide the scientific evidences and methods for future references of engineering applications.

Table 1 Mechanical properties of presoaked basalt fiber Density (g/m3) 2.8 Elasticity modulus Tensile strength Elongation rate (GPa) (MPa) (%) 79.3~93.1 0.324100~4840 3.1

2.2 Test design This research mainly studied the influence on compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength of presoaked basalt fiber concrete with three different lengths (10mm, 20mm, 30mm) and three different dosages 3 (3, 5, 7 kg/m ). The strength of matrix concrete is 30 MPa, its mix proportion seeing in table 2.
Table 2 Mix proportion of matrix concrete per stere Cement (kg) 425 Sand (kg) 542 Stone (kg) 1263 Water (kg) 170 Water-cement ratio (%) 0.4

2 EXPERIMENT
2.1 Materials Cement: 32.5 ordinary Portland cement; Sand: river sand, medium sand; Rock: 5~31.5 mm diameter continuous gradation pebbles; Water: drinking water; Presoaked basalt fiber: the technical performance index see Table 1.

According to Standard for test method of mechanical properties on ordinary concrete (GB/T 50081-2002), 150mm150mm150mm standard cube specimens are used to test cube compressive strength and splitting tensile strength, 150mm150mm300mm standard specimens are used to test elastic modulus and direct compressive strength, and 150mm150mm550mm standard beam specimens are used to test flexural performance in the experiment.

3 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

3.1 Workability One of the most important indicators of concrete performances is workability. It is a composite indicator

L. Ye et al. (eds.), Advances in FRP Composites in Civil Engineering Tsinghua University Press, Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011

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reflecting technology, refers to the uniform stability of composition and the performance of flow deformation in the operations of concrete mixing, transportation, construction, tamping, and so on. From the test results presented that there was influence on workability by adding presoaked basalt fiber into concrete. The slump reduced with increasing fiber dosage and fiber length (see Figure 1), The reasons are chiefly as follows: For one thing, because of greater specific surface area, rough surface and high coefficient of friction, the relative friction increased when concrete mix flowing; For another thing, as presoaked basalt fiber in concrete adsorbed certain moisture, causing the slump to reduce. Also it was found that, while reducing the slump of concrete, the permeability and viscidity of concrete had been obviously advanced.

Figure 2 Influence of PBF on cube compressive strength of PBFC

Figure 3 Influence of PBF on direct compressive strength of PBFC Figure 1 Influence of PBF on slump of PBFC

3.2 Mechanical properties 3.2.1 The influence of presoaked basalt fiber upon compressive strength of concrete As showing in the figure 2-3, the effect of enhancing concrete compressive strength is not prominent by adding presoaked basalt fiber, the change was within 7 percentage points of the amplitude of ordinary concrete. The reason is that the compressive strength of concrete depends mainly on the compressive strength of cement matrix. There are more the poor areas of interface in the system after adding presoaked basalt fiber. The poor areas of interface first break when compressed, they may cancel the improvements. Adverse effect by poor areas minimized when there is a better adherence between presoaked basalt fibers and concrete, this may lead to a higher compressive strength. People should endeavor to make a further step change in improving the interfacial bonding between fiber and concrete matrix to improve the compression properties of fiber reinforced concrete. Though the effect of enhancing concrete compressive strength is not prominent by adding presoaked basalt fiber, it was found that the broken shapes were all basically

maintained its form for only appeared many cracks and spallings, not like ordinary concrete which crushed when reached the ultimate compressive strength, still had a big bearing capacity. This is because the fiber has the effect of bridging in the cracks, preventing the process of deep development of cracks. 3.2.2 The influence of presoaked basalt fiber upon tensile strength of concrete As showing in the figure 4-5, the tensile strength of concrete is obviously improved by adding presoaked basalt fiber, with the increase from 2% to 26%. The splitting tensile strength and flexural strength of presoaked basalt fiber concrete increased with the dosage and the length of presoaked basalt fiber. The main reason is that the matrix is in a dominate position to bear loads when fiber reinforced concrete loaded in initial stage. With the increase of fiber strain, stress which fiber bears increases, postponing the formation of initial crack. After the matrix cracked, fibers which bridged cracks transfer the loads to the flanks of crack, bringing stress redistribution between cracks to suffer loads continually, slowing down the crack velocity and keeping crack in a stable state. The more fibers which transfer tensile stress, the longer time which crack develops in a stable state and the

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higher peak tensile Stress finally reaches.

of concrete had been greatly improved, a maximum 56.3%. From the test, we can see the highest ratio of tension and compression is reached when the fiber content was 5kg/m3 and the fiber length was 20mm. So we can predict that presoaked basalt fiber can decrease the brittleness, improve the tensile toughness and flexural performances to improve the toughness of concrete.

Figure 4 Influence of PBF on splitting tensile strength of PBFC

Figure 6 Influence of PBF on the ratio of splitting tensile strength and compression strength of PBFC

Figure 5 Influence of PBF on flexural strength of BFRC

In the experiment of splitting tensile strength, there are several secondary cracks, except one central principal crack. Perhaps this is because after adding presoaked basalt fiber, stress redistributed after appeared the initial crack, the weakest area didn't necessarily appear in the middle of concrete section. In flexural experiment, ordinary concrete broken when cracked. After added fiber, the bottom of concrete cracked first and developed to top, the fiber which bridged cracks can still suffer loads, preventing the development of cracks and minimizing the crack width. 3.2.3 The influence of presoaked basalt fiber upon the brittleness of concrete The ratio of tension and compression is one of indexes which reflect the brittleness of concrete. It means the ratio of tensile strength to cubic compressive strength of concrete at the same mixture ratio, the value reflects tensile properties. The smaller ratio of tension and compression, the greater brittleness, it also means the smaller toughness. As can be seen from the figure 6-7, after adding presoaked basalt fiber, the ratio of tension and compression

Figure 7 Influence of PBF on the ratio of flexural strength and compression strength of BFRC

4 CONCLUSIONS
In the study herein, the applicability of the presoaked basalt fiber as a strengthening material was investigated through various experimental works for mechanical properties and strengthening effects. The slump of concrete reduces with adding presoaked basalt fiber, but the permeability and viscidity of concrete are obviously advanced. From the compression test, the effect of enhancing concrete compressive strength is not prominent by adding presoaked basalt fiber, even might is reduced. But the failure model is modified; the integrity of fiber concrete is kept when the tensile failure occurs. It illustrated that the

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fracture pattern of concrete is changed from brittleness to toughness with presoaked basalt fiber, improving the compression toughness. From the tensile test, the effect of enhancing concrete tensile strength is obvious by adding presoaked basalt fiber, and the crack extension slows down, and the toughness and the deformation performance improve. The tensile strength of presoaked basalt fiber concrete is increased with the increase of the dosage and the length of presoaked basalt fiber. When the fiber content is 5kg/m3 and the fiber length is 20mm, the toughness of presoaked basalt fiber concrete is the best. So we can believe that the presoaked basalt fiber can be regarded as a strengthening material for concrete structures. The presoaked basalt fiber will be a good

alternative material among the fiber concretes.

REFERENCES
Wu, Gang et al. 2007. The application research and development of basalt fiber in civil engineering field. Industrial buildings: 410-414. Hu, Xianqi & Shen, Tunian 2005. The application of continuous basalt fiber in Military and civilian fields. Hi-Tech Fiber & Application 30(6): 7-13. GB/T50081-2002. Standard for test method of mechanical properties on ordinary concrete. Beijing: China Standards Press. Liu, Q et al. 2006. Investigation of basalt fiber composite mechanical properties for applications in transportation. Polymer Composite (10): 41-48.