The durability properties of polypropylene fiber reinforced fly ash concrete

Abstract

This paper reports of a comprehensive study on the durability properties of concrete containing polypropylene fiber and fly ash. Properties studied include unit weight and workability of fresh concrete, and compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, porosity, water absorption, sorptivity coefficient, drying shrinkage and freeze–thaw resistance of hardened concrete. Fly ash content used in concrete mixture was 0%, 15% and 30% in mass basis, and fiber volume fraction was 0%, 0.05%, 0.10% and 0.20% in volume basis. The laboratory results showed that inclusion of fly ash improves; however, polypropylene fiber decreases the workability of concrete. Moreover, polypropylene fiber addition, either into Portland cement concrete or fly ash concrete, did not improve the compressive strength and elastic modulus. The positive interactions between polypropylene fibers and fly ash lead to the lowest drying shrinkage of fibrous concrete with fly ash. Freeze–thaw resistance of polypropylene fiber concrete was found to slightly increase when compared to concrete without fibers. Moreover, fly ash increased the freeze–thaw resistance more than the polypropylene fibers did.