Experimental study and theoretical analysis on tensile properties of concrete reinforced with different polymer-impregnated basalt textiles

Abstract

Textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) has become a new material for strengthening and constructing structures. The mechanical properties of TRC are significantly influenced by the polymer impregnation of textile. However, the influencing mechanisms of different polymers on the mechanical properties of TRC remain unclear. In this study, the effects of polymer impregnations on tensile behavior of basalt textile reinforced concrete (BTRC) were investigated. The results showed that the epoxy resin-impregnated basalt textile outperformed other polymer-impregnated textiles in improving the tensile properties of concrete, exhibiting an ultimate stress 48%–110% higher than other samples. Increasing the textile layers number from 1 to 3 improved the ultimate stress and energy consumption, with the most notable improvements observed at 146% and 173%, respectively, for samples reinforced with epoxy resin-impregnated textiles. However, the increased textile layers reduced the ultimate strain and fiber strength utilization efficiency due to the inconsistent stress transfer among multi-layer textiles. Only epoxy resin-impregnated textiles reinforced samples exhibited a complete three-stage variation in the tensile stress-strain curve, where the stress fluctuations in the post-cracking stage were attributed to the multiple concrete cracks. In contrast, other polymer-impregnated textile-reinforced concrete samples experienced stress fluctuations in post-cracking stage primarily due to the textile slippage, inconsistent textile fractures, and propagation of initial crack. Furthermore, the epoxy resin-impregnated textiles' superior tensile strength and excellent bond with concrete contributed to reduced stress fluctuation range and smaller stress drop after initial cracking. Finally, an optimized tensile model with high accuracy was proposed to describe the tensile response of polymer-impregnated basalt textile reinforced concrete.