Effect of polypropylene fibers on high strength mortar subjected to elevated temperature

Abstract

This study focuses on the thermo-mechanical properties of mortar in the retrofitting cover of additional reinforcement for existing concrete structures. In addition, the residual mechanical properties of high strength mortar incorporating polypropylene fibers subjected to the effect of fiber length and the elevated temperature were investigated. Several experiments were conducted to determine the optimum mixture proportions of high strength mortar incorporating polypropylene fibers which had a slump-flow of 25-30 cm, compressive strength of 50 MPa or higher, and flexural strength of 4-8 MPa. Subsequently, an experiment was conducted by using high-strength mortar-blended polypropylene fibers with a length of 2 cm, and the ratio of fiber length to the diameter of cylinder mortar-specimens was 0.4. The experimental parameters were the weight volume of fibers (0 %, 0.5 %, 1 %, and 2%) and the heating temperature (100, 200 and 300 °C). The effect of the mixing parameters, including polypropylene length on compressive strength, slump-flow and the flexural strength of mortar were discussed. It is evident that fiber in the mortar cover influenced the initial and residual mechanical properties, such as elasticity, compressive strength, and Poisson's ratio, of the mortar.