Flexural Behavior of Hybrid PVA Fiber and AR-Glass Textile Reinforced Geopolymer Composites

Abstract

Textile reinforced mortar or concrete, a thin cementitious composite reinforced by non-corrosive polymer textile fabric, was developed and has been researched for its role on repair and strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Due to embedment of polymeric textile fabric inside the cementitious matrix, many researchers argued the superiority of this technology than the externally bonded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheet in RC in terms of prevention of debonding of FRP and durability in fire. However, due to use of cement rich matrix the existing development of textile reinforced concrete (TRC) need to be more environmental friendly by replacing cement based binder with geopolymeric binder. This paper presents a first study on the flexural behavior of alkali resistant glass fiber textile reinforced geopolymer (TRG). In this study, two types of geopolymer binder is considered. One is fly ash based heat cured geopolymer and the other is fly ash/slag blended ambient air cured geopolymer binder. Both geopolymer types are considered in the TRG and the results are benchmarked with the current cement based TRC. The effect of short polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber as hybrid reinforced with alkali-resistant (AR) glass fiber textile on the flexural behavior of above TRC and TRGs is also studied. Results show deflection hardening behavior of both TRGs with higher flexural strength in heat cured TRG and higher deflection capacity at peak load in ambient air cured TRG. The increase in PVA fiber volume fraction from 1% to 1.5% did not show any improvement in flexural strength of both TRGs although TRC showed good improvement. In the case of deflection at peak load, an opposite phenomenon is observed where the deflection at peak load in both TRGs is increased due to increase in PVA fiber volume fractions.

Structure and Properties Improvement by Recipe Factors of Geopolymer Basalt Fiber Reinforced Concrete for Building Enclosing Structures

“…In itself, this method is already quite effective, a proven option for changing the characteristics and structure of geopolymer concrete, giving it a different nature of destruction, more viscous, as well as the entire mechanics of the structure made from such concrete. This is in good agreement with the works of other authors who used various types of fiber in geopolymer concrete technology [36][37][38][39][40][41].…”

“…For example, in a study [36], the introduction of 0.3% steel fiber into the composition of geopolymer concrete made it possible to achieve the best compressive strength values. In studies [37][38][39][40][41], reinforcing geopolymer composites with glass, polypropylene, basalt, and steel fibers in optimal amounts improved their physical and mechanical properties. However, the issues of geopolymer concrete, not to mention geopolymer FRC, are poorly covered in regulatory and technical documents and currently do not allow mass production flow construction.…”

Flexural Strengthening of Concrete Slab-Type Elements with Textile Reinforced Concrete

“…Meanwhile, the influence of short fibers on the mechanical properties of TRC has been investigated by numerous research groups [18][19][20][21]. The results of their studies indicate that the presence of short fibers within the cementitious matrix can improve the bonding between the textile and matrix, and thereby the flexural, tensile, and cracking strength of TRC can be improved [3,18].…”

Effect of Nanosilica on Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of PVA Fiber-Reinforced Geopolymer Composite (PVA-FRGC)

“…To address this limitation, researchers have studied the use of various types of short, randomly distributed fibers to reinforce geopolymers and improve their tensile and flexural behavior. A number of studies have reported the use of cotton and flax fibers [2,3,4], PVA fiber [5,6], polyethylene fiber (PE) [7,8], glass fiber [9,10], carbon fiber [11], and steel fiber [5,12] to reinforce geopolymers. In all the above studies, an improvement in the flexural and tensile strength of geopolymer composites was reported due to the addition of fibers.…”