Influence of PVA fibers on the durability of cementitious composites under the wet–heat–salt coupling environment

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Abstract To investigate the effects of wet–heat–salt coupling environment (WHSCE) and the content of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers on the durability of cementitious composites (CC), a series of durability tests were carried out. In this study, the salt concentration in the WHSCE was set to 5%, the temperature at 50°C, and the relative humidity at 100%. Six different contents of PVA fibers were set up in the test for exploring their effects on the durability (impermeability, chloride ion penetration resistance, freeze–thaw resistance, and chloride salt erosion resistance under dry and wet cycle conditions) of CC. The results showed that durability of CC under the WHSCE was enhanced regardless of the content of PVA fibers added. At the PVA fiber amount of 1.2%, the impermeability pressure, electric flux, mass loss rate, compressive strength loss rate, and compressive strength corrosion resistance coefficient under the WHSCE reached the optimal values. This indicated that the durability of CC was most favorable when the amount of PVA fibers was 1.2% since many engineering structures are subject to erosion by various factors in the ocean, which can inevitably affect the service life of the purchase. In this study, the effect of PVA fiber content on the durability of CC in complex environment is studied, which provides experimental data and analytical ideas for improving engineering located in the ocean, hoping to provide a theoretical basis for their subsequent application in practical engineering.