CRACKING PROCESSES IN STEEL FIBER REINFORCED CEMENT PASTE

Fracture patterns produced when a crack advanced from a notch in cement paste specimens reinforced with steel fibers were studied by SEM methods. The specimens were small compact tension specimens with precast notches that could be wedge loaded within the SEM chamber in a moist environment. Steel fibers were positioned either in an array of five parallel fibers spaced two mm apart and across the expected crack propagation path, or else were in random orientation on the plane being observed. The cracks induced by wedge loading were found to be geometrically complex and certainly could not be described as simple straight cracks as assumed in various models. On intersection with fibers oriented perpendicularly to them, the cracks tended to displace laterally and branch into a number of microcracks; on intersection with fibers at less than perpendicular angles, the tendency was for the crack to change course and run parallel to the inclined fiber. Often at perpendicular intersections the crack appeared to be arrested in the matrix 10 to 40 microns ahead of the actual fiber interface, and then produced a "pseudo-debonding crack" parallel to the fiber but some distance away from the actual interface. These cracking patterns are considered to be influenced by the microstructure of the cement paste near the interface, which is clearly different from that of the bulk cement paste. (Author/TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00088846
• Corporate Authors:

  Pergamon Press, Incorporated

  Maxwell House, Fairview Park
  Elmsford, NY  United States  10523
• Authors:
  • Bentur, A
  • Diamond, S
  • Mindess, S
• Publication Date: 1985-3

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Photos; References;
• Pagination: p. 331-342
• Serial:
  • Cement and Concrete Research
  • Volume: 15
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0008-8846
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00088846

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cement paste; Fiber composites; Fiber reinforced concrete; Fracture mechanics; Microcracking; Steel fibers
• Uncontrolled Terms: Fiber cement; Microcracks
• Subject Areas: Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00458404
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 30 1986 12:00AM