THERMAL PROPERTIES AND RESISTANCE TO THERMAL SHOCK OF STRAIN HARDENING CEMENT-BASED COMPOSITES

The mechanical behavior of SHCC has been well investigated over the past 10 years, but few publications can be found on the thermal properties of SHCC. Therefore, the purpose of the present paper is to present relevant thermal characteristics of SHCC such as adiabatic temperature rise, thermal conductivity, specific heat and coefficient of thermal expansion and resistance to thermal shock. Prismatic SHCC specimens of 40 x 40 x 160mm were heated to temperatures of 145 degrees C and 250 degrees C in a computer controlled furnace and then cooled down rapidly to a temperature of 20 degrees C resulting in a temperature difference of 125 degrees C and 230 degrees C between the hot surface of the specimen and the water bath. For both cases eighty cycles of hernial shock loading were applied to the specimens. Bending tests were carried out in the specimens submitted to the thermal chock loads in order to monitor the residual first-crack strength and deflection capacity of the material.