Mechanical characteristics and flexural behaviour of fibre-reinforced cementitious composite containing PVA and basalt fibres

Fibre-reinforced cementitious composite (FRCC) is a type of composite that uses high volume of fibres to attain ductile properties. In this research, the effects of two different fibres, namely polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and basalt, on the mechanical properties of FRCC such as compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strengths were investigated. The fibres were used in varying volume fraction, which includes 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% and a hybrid combination of 1.5% basalt fibre with 1.5% PVA fibre for the preparation of the FRCC. The results showed that while the fibres had minimal effect on the compressive strength of FRCC, significant improvements in the splitting tensile and flexural strengths were found. In the comparison of the flexural performances, the introduction of PVA fibre in FRCC led to superior properties and it exhibited more ductile failure mode compared with basalt fibre and the optimum fibre dosage to be added was determined to be 1.5%.