Tensile and Fracture Properties of Silicon Carbide Whisker-Modified Cement-Based Materials

Abstract

Silicon carbide whiskers (SiCw) have many excellent properties such as high strength, high elastic modulus, and high temperature resistance. In this paper, by using water reducer as dispersant, a stable SiCw dispersion was obtained, and SiCw-modified cement-based composites were prepared. Tensile strength tests for 8-shaped specimens were carried out on the materials. The fracture properties of the materials were measured using a three-point bending test with pre-cracks based on the digital image correlation method. The microstructure of the SiCw-modified mortar was observed by SEM. The results showed that the SiCw improved the tensile strength of the cement-based materials, and the addition of SiCw effectively improved the fracture toughness of mortar. The SiCw caused crack deflection during crack propagation, accompanied by whisker pull-out and bridging phenomena. The SiCw bridging effect and pull-out mechanism effectively controlled the crack propagation and played a toughening role, thus enhancing the crack resistance of mortar.