Experimental Study on Engineered Cementitious Composites for High Ductility Applications

Abstract

Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) are a new category of fiber-reinforced cementitious materials that are designed to address the brittle behavior of conventional concrete by adding ductility and controlled multiple cracking. In this study, mechanical performance and ductility properties of ECC with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers for ductile structural applications is experimentally studied. The ECC specimens were made with a controlled mix and provided after 28 days of standard water curing. The developed composites were quantified using compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, ultimate tensile strain, ductility index and average crack width. The experimental results showed that the best mechanical properties were obtained for the ECC-3 (the one with 2.0% PVA fiber), with the compressive strength of 69.4 MPa, split tensile strength of 3.82 MPa, flexural strength of 14.32 MPa and UTS of 4.9%, and the ECC-3 had excellent stain hardening and crack control performance. The results confirm that ECC has the better deformation capacity and mechanical performance properties compared to other types of structural materials with high ductility.