Design of PLC based Device for Orientation Ferromagnetic Fibers in Cementitious Composite

Fibre-reinforced concrete is a new composite material whose advantages include tensile strength or resistance to extreme loadings. The strength of the reinforcement can be further improved by orienting the fibres in a magnetic field. The orientation of fibres must be done immediately after pouring the concrete into a form.One of the applications where it is possible to take advantage of the behaviour that the prefabricated building material acquires after the orientation of the fibres is the use in the production of prefabricated slabs, which are normally produced in a factory outside the area of the construction site. The characteristic properties imposed on the slab are the non-uniform distribution of the required strength, with the highest required strength in the center and the lowest required strength at the edges. This makes it a direct opportunity to use dispersed reinforcement and to orient the fibres in the concrete mixture according to the demand of the customer. Based on this, a robotic device has been developed in which the fibres will be automatically oriented according to the individual requirements of the user. This paper presents a device developed to experimentally verify the possibility of orienting steel fibres in slabs to increase their mechanical strength.