Effect of Early-Age Temperature Rise on the Stability of Rapid-Hardening Cement Fiber Composites

Abstract

The fiber composites reported herein comprise a particular class of multiphase materials in which the major volumetric phase, the binder, is a rapid-hardening cement-based material and the minor volumetric phase, the reinforcement, is a fibrous steel material. A further feature of these composites was that the proportion of fiber to binder was significantly high, up to 20% by volume. The work was limited to commercially available steel fibers and cements; the latter were a magnesium phosphate and an accelerated calcium aluminate. The objectives of this work were (1) to carry out a brief review on rapid-hardening cements; (2) to identify the influence of early-age temperature rise on the stability of cement grouts; and (3) to investigate their early-age strength development. The work established that both cements could be used as binders in fiber composites.