Experimental research on mechanical properties of engineered cementitious composites

Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) with the excellent tensile strain capacity was made of domestic raw materials except PVA-fiber. The effect of water-binder ratio, fiber content and silica fume content on the mechanical properties was investigated in this paper. While the ECC microstructure was also investigated by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results showed that high water-binder ratio and larger amount of PVA-fiber will help to improve tensile property of ECC with adding a moderate amount of silica fume. While the compressive strength of ECC was 35.4 MPa to 57.6 MPa, the tensile strain capacity attended to 2.59% to 4.77%. SEM analysis showed that large amount of spherical non-hydrated fly ash could improve the matrix and fiber interface structure. The water-binder ratio has a great effect on the structure compactness of the hydration products and fiber abrasion degrees.