Title : Polypropylene and Polyester Fiber Reinforced Concretes A Performance Study
Authors : KPS. Narayanan
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Price : 250
Abstract : Synthetic fibers are man-made fibers resulting from research and development in the petrochemical and textile industries. There are two different physical fiber forms, Monofilament fibers, and fibers produced from fibrillated tape. Currently there are two different synthetic fiber volumes used in application, namely low-volume percentage (0.1 to 0.3% by volume) and high-volume percentage (0.4 to 0.8% by volume). Most synthetic fiber applications are at the 0.1% by volume level. At this level, the strength of the concrete is considered unaffected and crack- control characteristics are achieved. A comprehensive study was made in the laboratory with an objective of comparing the performance characteristics of concretes made with two different fibers namely, Polypropylene fibers (CTP 2024) and Polyester fibers (CT 2024), both supplied by Ms. Reliance Industries Ltd., against that of control concrete (Concrete without fibers). The dosage of fibers adopted (both Polypropylene and Polyester) for concretes with fibers were 125gms per bag of cement. The control concrete had no fibers in it. Two grades of concrete, M25 and M40 were chosen for the above study. Both fresh concrete as well as hardened concrete properties like compressive strength, flexural strength, splitting tensile strength, abrasion resistance, water permeability, RCPT, drying shrinkage and plastic shrinkage were studied on concrete specimens with and without fibers. The study indicated that at the same water/cement ratio, there was a significant reduction in the workability of concrete in terms of slump when fibers were added to it. There was a marginal improvement in parameters like compressive strength, flexural strength, splitting tensile strength, abrasion resistance, water permeability, RCPT and drying shrinkage for concretes made with fibers over that of control concrete. However, there was a significant improvement in the plastic shrinkage reduction potential of concretes incorporating fibers over that of control concrete. It was also observed that the plastic shrinkage reduction potential of concrete with polyester fibers (CT 2024) was more than that of concrete with polypropylene fibers (CTP 2024).