Mechanical behavior and chloride resistance of cementitious composites with PE and steel fiber

The mechanical behaviors and chloride resistance performance of fiber reinforced cementitious composites (FRCC) with hybrid polyethylene (PE) and steel fiber (in total 2% by volume) were investigated. Based on micro-mechanics and fracture mechanics, the reason why the tensile strain capacity of FRCC changed obviously was obtained. Besides, the effects of the total surface area of fiber in FRCC on compressive strength and chloride content were clarified. It is found that the improvement of the tensile strain capacity of FRCC with hybrid fiber is attributed to the growth of strain-hardening performance index (the ratio of complementary energy to crack tip toughness). As the total surface area of fiber related with the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between fiber and matrix increases, compressive strength decreases obviously. Since the total surface area of fiber is small, the chloride resistance performance of FRCC with hybrid PE and steel fiber is better than that of FRCC containing only PE fiber.