Mechanical properties of PP-based engineered cementitious composites

This paper describes an experimental study on the mechanical properties of engineered cementitious composites incorporating polypropylene fibers. Three main mechanical properties were investigated, which were the compressive strength, the splitting tensile strength, and the flexural strength. The main investigated parameter of this study is the volume fraction dosage of fiber which was variable, while the other constituents of the mixture were kept constant. Five different polypropylene fiber dosages of 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0% were adopted in this study. Three cubes (100mm × 100mm × 100mm), three cylinders (100mm diameter and 200mm height), and three prisms (70mm × 70mm × 235mm) were fabricated and cast from each mixture and tested at the age 28 days for compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength, respectively. The modulus of rupture was used to represent the flexural strength in this study. The test results showed that the percentage of fiber has a significant impact on the tensile strength, where both the splitting tensile strength and the modulus of rupture were increased with the increase of fiber content. Oppositely, the effect of fiber content on the compressive strength was insignificant.