The influence of recycled steel fibers on self-compacting concrete performance

Abstract

This paper presents a study on the rheological and mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) with recycled steel fibers recovered (SFR) from waste tires. SFR were added separately to SCC mixtures at volume fraction of 0.5, 0.8, 1 and 1.5%. Water to cement ratio of 0.46, gravel to sand ratio of 1.0 and superplasticizer content of 1.0% (by weight of cement) were kept constant in the all SCC mixtures. Five SCC mixtures were tested for their rheological properties by using slump flow diameter, T500 slump flow time, V-funnel flow time, L-box ratio, and the segregation resistance test. The 28-day compressive strength, flexural strength and shrinkage were also investigated. The results showed that adding recycled steel tires fibers reduced the rheological characteristics of the self-compacting concrete. It was also revealed that, increasing the content of recycled steel fibers reduced slightly the compressive strength and shrinkage but improves flexural strength.