Experimental study on addition of Steel Fibres in Conventional Concrete

Abstract

Fibre Reinforced Concrete (FRC) is a composite material which consists of constituents of conventional concrete along with the addition of fibres. The two major classifications of fibres are natural and artificial fibres. The main purpose of use of fibres in concrete is to arrest the formation and propagation of cracks in concrete. The purpose of this study is to compare the mechanical properties of Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete with the Conventional Concrete. Steel fibres with four different percentages such as 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% were added to the concrete. Three different grades of concrete such as M40, M50, M60 were experimented in this study. Compressive strengths of cube specimens were calculated for these dosages with a curing period of 14 and 28 days. Optimization of the SFRC was done through the Compressive strength test results. It was observed that fibre dosage of 1.5% showed maximum values when compared with other percentages. With the optimized percentage of Steel Fibre, split tensile strength test was carried out. It was observed that the addition of steel fibres in concrete improved the compressive strength and split tensile strength of steel fibre reinforced concrete. At 28 days of curing with the addition of 1.5% of fibres, the compressive strengths of M40, M50 and M60 grades of concrete increased by 14.6%, 13.7% and 11.8% respectively compared with conventional concrete. Similarly, at 28 days of curing with the addition of 1.5% of fibres, the split tensile strengths of M40, M50 and M60 grades of concrete increased by 7.66%, 8.59% and 9.23% respectively compared with conventional concrete. In addition, a microstructural analysis was done to determine the material characterisation through Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD).