Strain-hardening fiber reinforced polymer concrete with a low carbon footprint

Epoxy resin, fly ash, and silica sand were used to produce polymer concrete reinforced with glass, carbon, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and high strength steel micro-fibers. The effects of two resin contents: 15% and 18%, and two curing regimes: ambient and heat were assessed. Their compressive strength, permeable porosity, and uniaxial tensile stress-strain behavior were studied. The compressive strength of 15% and 18% polymer concrete were 48-62 MPa and 61-74 MPa respectively. The porosity of all types of polymer concretes was less than 1%, except 15%-PVA and 15%-glass fiber reinforced polymer concrete. Under uniaxial tensile loading, glass and carbon fiber reinforced polymer concrete portrayed a sudden brittle failure resulting from complete fiber rupture, whereas PVA and steel fiber reinforced polymer concrete demonstrated a ductile strain-hardening response. A significantly higher tensile strength was observed when the resin content was increased from 15% to 18%, particularly for glass and carbon fiber reinforced polymer concrete, whereas for PVA and steel fiber reinforced polymer concrete this improvement was small. The brittle carbon fiber reinforced polymer concrete demonstrated the highest tensile strength, whereas the ductile steel fiber reinforced polymer concrete had the highest post-crack residual strength at large strains, irrespective of the resin content. Overall, heat curing had no impact on compressive or tensile properties of any type of polymer concrete investigated.