Mechanical Properties of PVA and Polyester Fibers Based Engineered Cementitious Composites

Abstract

Engineered cementitious composite (ECC) is a mortar based composite reinforced with polymeric fibers and exhibits strain hardening characteristic through the process of multiple micro-cracking. In this study, two types of polymeric fibers (i.e., polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers and polyester (Poly) fibers) were used for making of ECC. The uniaxial compressive, uniaxial tensile, and four point bending test were carried out to characterize the mechanical behavior of PVA-ECC and Poly-ECC with same mix proportions. The compressive, tensile and flexural stress–strain responses of ECC are plotted. The ratio of compressive strengths of cylinder (150 × 300 mm), and small cube (70.7 × 70.7 × 70.7 mm) to the compressive strength of standard cube (150 × 150 × 150 mm) is determined. The experimental results show that PVA-ECC exhibits higher compressive, tensile and flexural strength in comparison to the Poly-ECC.