Effect of fibers types on fresh properties and flexural toughness of self-compacting concrete

This research aimed to experimentally examine the workability and mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) with silica fume (SF) and different types of fibers. Five types of fibers, namely, hook-end steel (H), mild steel (M), carved-steel (S), basalt rock (R), and polypropylene (P) fibers, were used to produce fiber-reinforced SCC (SCRFCx). Each fiber type was added to the concrete at a rate of 0.25% of the concrete volume, and a silica fume replacement rate of 30% of the cement mass was applied. The workability of fresh concrete samples was assessed using slump flow, slump flow T-50 , L-box, V-funnel, V-funnel T-5 , bleeding, and segregation tests. In addition, the overall strength of hardened concrete was investigated by using compressive, indirect tensile, and flexural strength tests. Results showed that fiber addition generally reduces the fresh concrete. The slump flow diameter was 670 mm of SCC; moreover, slump flows decreased to 630, 640, 640, 610, and 650 mm when H, M, S, P, and R fibers were respectively added to the concrete. The respective compressive strengths were of 34.5, 33.9, 32.1, 36.9, 35.8, and 33.3 MPa when add the fibers of type H, M, S, P, and R, at test age 28 d, respectively. (c) 2020 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).