Mechanical Properties of Fiber-Reinforced High-Volume Fly-Ash-Based Cement Composite—A Long-Term Study

Laxman P. Kudva, Gopinatha Nayak, Kiran K. Shetty and H. K. Sugandhini ()
Additional contact information
Laxman P. Kudva: Department of Civil Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Gopinatha Nayak: Department of Civil Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Kiran K. Shetty: Department of Civil Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
H. K. Sugandhini: Department of Civil Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-20

Abstract: This article presents the long-term mechanical properties of a novel cement composite, no-aggregate concrete (NAC), containing 80% of low-calcium (class F) fly ash (F-FA) and 20% ordinary Portland cement (OPC) without aggregates. The study investigates the effect of adding polypropylene fibers (PPFs) in varying volume fractions to NAC by conducting compressive, splitting tensile, flexural, bond strength, and sorptivity tests, emphasizing the morphological features over a curing duration of up to three years. The results indicate that adding PPF has an insignificant effect on compressive strength. However, flexural, splitting tensile, and bond strength improve with an increasing volume fraction of PPF. The addition of PPF achieves a ductile failure which is desirable. The initial and final water absorption rate (sorptivity) reduces with the addition of PPF. Further, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images reveal dense precipitation of C-S-H, while energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) quantifies the hydration products. The ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) affirms the composite’s excellent quality.

Keywords: class F fly ash; supplementary cementitious materials; mechanical properties; sustainable cementitious composite; polypropylene fibers; sorptivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13128/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13128/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:17:p:13128-:d:1230163

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().