Tensile behavior of lightweight carbon textile-reinforced cementitious composites with dispersed fibers

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate experimentally the effect of dispersed fibers with various characteristics on the tensile behavior of lightweight (LW) carbon textile-reinforced cementitious composites (TRCs). To fabricate the matrix, expanded glass was used as the LW filler and microsilica fume was partly used as the cement replacement. In this study, the effects of different fiber types, lengths, and volume fractions were investigated. A maximum fiber volume fraction of 1.2% was utilized with three types of dispersed fibers: polyvinyl alcohol, nylon, and hybrid type comprising nylon and amorphous metallic fibers. The experimental results indicated that the addition of the investigated dispersed fibers in the LW carbon TRCs caused multiple cracking patterns and improved their tensile performance. Notably, a more pronounced improvement in the tensile properties of the TRC materials in the post-cracking stage was observed for a shorter fiber length. Furthermore, based on the experimental results and material characteristics, an analytical model was proposed to predict the tensile stress–strain curves of LW carbon TRCs incorporating dispersed fibers, and its prediction demonstrated consistency with the test data.