Effect of Raw Sugarcane Bagasse Ash as Sand Replacement on the Fiber-Bridging Properties of Engineered Cementitious Composites

The use of raw sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) as sand replacement in the production of engineered cementitious composites (ECCs) can improve its cost-effectiveness and practicality. A recent study by the authors showed that the use of raw SCBA as a replacement to sand in ECC mixtures substantially enhances the tensile ductility and provides mild improvements in tensile strength; however, it also indicated a need to further elucidate the mechanisms producing such improvements. Therefore, the present study examined the effects of raw SCBA as a sand replacement in ECC's fundamental fiber-bridging relationship, sigma (delta), through single crack tensile test (SCTT) using 1% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber volume fraction. The PVA fiber volume fraction was reduced from 1.5% in the previous study to 1% in this study to ensure that a single crack was produced, which is a necessary condition to obtain the fundamental sigma (delta) relationship. A total of five mixtures were evaluated at different replacement levels of sand with raw SCBA (i.e., 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%). SCTT results revealed that raw SCBA produced minor effects on the fiber-bridging capacity but significantly increased the complementary energy (J'(b)). A positive correlation was observed between the pseudo strain-hardening (PSH) strength index and raw SCBA content. Since the PSH strength index was higher than the recommended value (i.e., 1.3) for robust PSH behavior, it was concluded that the main factor contributing to tensile ductility enhancements was the increase in the PSH energy index resulting from the notable increase of J'(b) and potential decrease in matrix fracture toughness.