Tensile behavior of textile-reinforced composites made of highly ductile fiber-reinforced concrete and carbon textiles

To overcome the drawbacks of organic adhesives in strengthening applications, textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) has been used as an alternative to fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs). However, the brittleness of the cementitious matrix in TRM reduces the efficiency of textiles. Highly ductile fiber-reinforced concrete (HDC), also known as an engineered cementitious composite (ECC), is a cementitious material that is reinforced by short fibers, which possess pseudo-ductile properties. Therefore, HDC can potentially be used to replace mortar in TRM to improve textile efficiency. This new composite material is termed TRHDC. In this study, the effects of the reinforcing textile ratio, volume content and type of short fibers, matrix strength on the tensile behavior of TRHDC are investigated. The experimental results indicate that TRHDC exhibits preferred multiple-crack patterns and a better tensile performance compared to TRM. When the reinforcing textile ratio and short fiber volume content are increased, there are more and finer multiple cracks increase and the ultimate stress significantly increase. The strength utilization coefficient of the textile increases with the short fiber volume content and matrix strength while decreases with the reinforcing textile ratio increases. The ultimate stress increase with the matrix strength. TRHDC with a matrix strength of 60 MPa shows more and finer multiple cracks compared to other matrices. Short polyethylene fibers are better at improving the tensile behavior than short polyvinyl alcohol fibers. Based on a regression analysis of the test datasets, formulas for the ul-timate tensile strength that consider the coupling effect between the reinforcing textile ratio and short fibers volume content are proposed.