The mechanical properties of polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete

The compressive, shear strengths and abrasion-erosion resistance as well as flexural properties of two polypropylene fiber reinforced concretes and the comparison with a steel fiber reinforced concrete were reported. The exprimental results show that a low content of polypropylene fiber (0.91 kg / m(3) of concrete) slightly decreases the compressive and shear strengths, and appreciably increased the flexural strength, but obviously enhances the toughness index and fracture energy for the concrete with the same mix proportion, consequently it plays a role of anti-cracking and improving toughness in concrete. Moreover, the polypropylene mesh fiber is better than the polypropylene monofilament fiber in improving flexural strength and toughness of concrete, but the two types of polypropylene fibers are inferior to steel fiber. All the polypropylene and steel fibers have no great beneficial effect on the abrasion-erosion resistance of concrete.