Recovery of mortar-aggregate interface of fire-damaged concrete after post-fire curing

In order to investigate the strength recovery of fire-damaged concrete after post-fire curing, concrete specimens were heating at 2 degrees C/min or 5 degrees C/min to 400, 600 and 800 degrees C, and these exposed specimens were soaked in the water for 24 hours and following by 29-day post-fire curing. The compressive strength and split tensile strength of the high-temperature-exposed specimens before and after post-fire curing were tested. The proportion of split aggregate in the split surfaces was analyzed to evaluate the mortar-aggregate interfacial strength. After the post-fire curing process, the split tensile strength of specimens exposed to all temperatures was recovered significantly, while the recovery of compressive strength was only obvious within the specimens exposed to 600 degrees C. The tensile strength is more sensitive to the mortar-aggregate interfacial cracks, which caused that the split tensile strength decreased more after high-temperature exposure and recovery more after post-fire curing than the compressive strength. The mortar-aggregate interfacial strength also showed remarkable recovery after post-fire curing, and it contributed to the recovery of split tensile strength.