Interfacial Debonding and Sliding in Brittle Cementmatrix Composites from Steel Fiber Pullout Tests

Abstract

AbstractA specially designed single fiber pullout apparatus was used to provide simultaneous results on total fiber displacement versus load in addition to monitoring the fiber displacement at the free end. In this apparatus the fiber was going through the entire specimen, which made it possible to determine the point of complete debonding. To control the embedment length a plastic tube was inserted around the fiber. The described fiber pullout test method coupled with an appropriate analysis provides a quantitative determination of interfacial properties which are relevant to toughening of brittle materials through fiber-reinforcement. The technique was used on a high strength cement-based matrix called the Densified Small Particle system (DSP), and on an ordinary strength matrix. Other parameters investigated included fiber embedment length and fiber volume fraction in the cement matrix. The results indicate that: (1) the dense DSP matrix has significantly improved interfacial properties as compared to the ordinary strength matrix; (2) the major energy of pullout in both systems is due to sliding; and (3) both the debonding energy and sliding energy increase with fiber embedment length. These results are important in the understanding of the role of steel fibers in improving the tensile properties of high performance fiber reinforced composites.