Role of micro fibres in tailoring the specific heat capacity of cementitious composites at elevated temperatures: Experimental characterisation and micromechanical modelling

Abstract

The temperature dependency of specific heat capacity is crucial for thermo-mechanical analysis of fibre reinforced cementitious composites. In this study, a combined experimental and theoretical analysis was conducted to characterise the role of micro fibres in tailoring the specific heat capacity of cementitious composites at elevated temperatures. The specific heat capacity of cement mortar reinforced with four types of fibres, including polypropylene, basalt, carbon and glass fibres, was measured by means of a transient method at up to 400 °C. Based on the effective medium theory, a multiscale homogenization model was developed to predict the specific heat capacity evolution of cementitious composite with temperature from micro to macro level. The results indicate that within the measured temperature range, the addition of 2.0 vol% polypropylene and glass fibres lead to the maximum rise or drop in specific heat capacity of mortar by 8.7% and 14.1%, respectively. In addition, the thermal expansion of polymer fibre was proved to effectively enhance the specific heat capacity of mortar due to thermal expansion coupling effect. The parametric analysis suggests that stiffer inclusions with high thermal expansion govern the effective specific heat capacity coupled with thermal expansion, while the composite incorporated with softer inclusions is insensitive to the variation in thermal properties of inclusions.