Mechanical properties of ramie fibers and hooked-end steel fibers reinforced high strength concrete incorporating metakaolin and silica fume

Insufficient materials availability leads the researchers to find alternate materials. This study investigates the strength behavior of ramie fiber and steel fibers reinforced concrete and compared it with control concrete. In this investigation, cementitious composites were added in both HFRC (Hybrid Fiber reinforced Concrete) and control concrete and finally, a comparison was made between controlled concrete (without fibers) and fiber reinforced concrete. Ramie (scientific name: Boehmerianivea) is a flowering plant in the nettle family urticaceae, it produces textile fibers that are largely used in textile industries. This research paper mainly focuses on ramie fibers and hooked-end steel fibers-based composites which have wide applications in the construction field. In this ramie fibers and hooked-end steel fibers are used in a hybrid form which exhibits synergistic responses from each fiber. There are different types of steel fibers available in markets, in that hooked-end fibers show enhanced performance. In this investigation different percentage of fibers were used, (0.5% ramie fibers + 0.5%SF, 1% ramie fibers + 1% SF, 1.5% ramie fibers + 1.5% SF, 2% ramie fibers + 2 steel fibers) of 17 mixes were prepared. Hooked-end steel fibers of length 30 mm and ramie fibers of 40 mm length were used. High strength concrete of grade M70 was used. In this Silica fume and metakaolin were used as cementitious composites by weight of cement. HFRC is tested for compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, Modulus of elasticity, impact strength and ductility index at different ages of concrete specimens. Increased content of fibers decreases the workability and increases the mechanical characteristics of concrete. In this investigation, the optimal content of silica fume and metakaolin of 10% and 5% was used respectively in all the mixes based on the previous research. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.