Interaction of magnetic water and polypropylene fiber on fresh and hardened properties of concrete

Abstract

Utilizing fibers is an effective way to avoid the brittle behavior of the conventional concrete and can enhance its ductility. In particular, propylene fibers can improve concrete properties, including energy absorption, physical and mechanical properties, controlling shrinkage cracks. The increase of fiber density leads to an increase of the overlapping surface of the fiber of concrete and, in turn, a decrease of cracks developed in the concrete. However, the workability of fiber reinforced concrete tends to be lower than the conventional concrete owing mainly to the hairline thickness and excessive concentration of fibers. The low slump of concrete impedes the construction of reinforced concrete members. In this research, we study if the utilization of magnetic water can alleviate the workability issue of young fiber reinforced concrete. To this end, the compressive and flexural strength of four types of concrete (conventional concrete, fiber reinforced concrete, magnetic concrete, magnetic fiber-reinforced concrete) is studied and compared at three different ages of 7, 14, and 28 days. In order to study the influence of the fiber density and length, a study on specimens with three different fiber density (1, 2, 5 kg of fiber in each cubic meter of concrete) and fiber length (6, 12, 18 mm) is undertaken. The result shows the magnetic fiber concrete can result in an increase of the flexural and compressive strength of concrete at higher ages.