Direct assessment of tensile stress-crack opening behavior of Strain Hardening Cementitious Composites (SHCC)

The process of designing Strain Hardening Cementitious Composites (SHCC) is driven by the need to achieve certain performance parameters in tension. These are typically the pseudo-strain hardening behavior and the ability to develop multiple cracks. The assessment of the tensile load-deformation behavior of these materials is therefore of great importance and is frequently carried out by characterizing the material tensile stress–strain behavior. In this paper an alternative approach to evaluate the tensile performance of SHCC is investigated. The behavior of the material in tension is studied at the level of a single crack. The derived tensile stress-crack opening behavior is utilized to analyze and compare the influence of various composite parameters on the resulting tensile behavior. The deformations occurring during tensile loading are furthermore examined using a digital image-based deformation analysis technique to gain detailed insight into the crack formation, propagation and opening phases.     

Effect of matrix ductility and interface treatment on mechanical properties of glass fiber mat composites

The influence of matrix properties on randomly oriented glass fiber epoxy composites has been studied. It is shown that an increased ductility (flexibility) of the matrix does not result in greater elongation to failure of the composite under tensile and flexural loads. The tensile (and flexural) strength and the modulus of elasticity are decreased as the ductility of the resin is increased. It is concluded that since the matrix material is subjected to a triaxial state of stress when the composite specimen is subjected to uniaxial loads, the effect of matrix modulus, Poisson's ratio, and yield strength are more important than the matrix ductility measured under uniaxial stress. The effect on mechanical properties of various surface treatments applied to the fibers is also investigated. Finally, scanning electron micrographs are presented showing matrix cracks, fiber debonding, and fiber pull-out.     

Effect of fiber properties and matrix composition on the tensile behavior of strain-hardening cement-based composites (SHCCs) subject to impact loading

The article at hand describes the behavior of high-strength and normal-strength strain-hardening cement-based composites (SHCCs) made of fine-grained matrix and high-density polyethylene fibers under quasi-static and impact tensile loading. The dynamic tension testing of unnotched and notched cylinders was performed using the Hopkinson bar at strain rates of around 150 s^− 1. The responses of the materials under dynamic and quasi-static tensile loading were compared to the corresponding results for normal-strength SHCC made of polyvinyl-alcohol fibers as obtained in previous investigations. To explain the pronounced differences in rate effects on the material performance of various SHCC compositions, cracking pattern and fracture surface conditions were studied. Additionally, strain rate dependent changes in the mechanical behavior of individual fibers and in the fiber–matrix interfacial properties were deduced from single-fiber tension tests and fiber pullout tests, respectively. Altogether, the results obtained provide clear indications as to the decisive parameters for a purposeful material design of impact resistant types of SHCC for use in structural elements or protective overlays.     

粉煤灰对PVA纤维/水泥基体界面作用及复合材料拉伸性能的影响

本文研究了粉煤灰掺量对基体强度、聚乙烯醇(PVA)纤维/水泥基体间界面作用以及无表面修饰PVA纤维应变硬化水泥基复合材料(SHCC)拉伸性能的影响。结果表明,随着粉煤灰掺量的增加,基体的28 d抗压强度在18~93 MPa内呈下降趋势。单轴拉伸试验结果表明,掺入20%(质量分数,下同)和50%粉煤灰对SHCC的影响不明显,随着粉煤灰掺量增至67%和80%,SHCC的多微缝开裂和应变硬化特征呈增强趋势,极限应变值也相应增大,最高达7.2%,并且具有轻质特性。单纤维拔出试验结果显示,高掺量粉煤灰不仅可以降低PVA纤维与基体间的化学黏结作用,还能减弱界面摩擦作用,从而有效抑制了PVA纤维在拔出过程中出现过早断裂,显著提高了无表面修饰PVA纤维SHCC的延展性。     

Characterising the time-dependant behaviour on the single fibre level of SHCC: Part 1: Mechanism of fibre pull-out creep

SHCC (Strain Hardening Cement-based Composite) has been designed and optimised to overcome the main weaknesses of ordinary concrete, which is its brittleness. SHCC shows a high tensile ductility and can resist the full load at a tensile strain of more than 4%. An in depth investigation into the time-dependant behaviour is still lacking for SHCC. This paper is the first part of a two paper series about the time-dependant behaviour on the single fibre level. In this paper, the tensile creep behaviour of SHCC is studied to distinguish mechanisms of creep. Tensile creep and shrinkage test results are reported for dumbbell type SHCC specimens. The specimens are pre-cracked to simulate in-service conditions, with subsequent sustained load at various levels, here chosen as 30%, 50%, 70% and 80% of the ultimate resistance. To distinguish the sources of significant creep deformation under these sustained loads, single fibre pull-out tests are performed under sustained load. It is shown that the time-dependent fibre pull-out is a significant source of time-dependent deformation, along with the formation of new cracks in SHCC under sustained load.     

Tensile and fiber dispersion performance of ECC (engineered cementitious composites) produced with ground granulated blast furnace slag

An engineered cementitious composite (ECC) produced with ground granulated blast furnace slag was developed for the purpose of achieving moderately high composite strength while maintaining high ductility, represented by strain-hardening behavior in uniaxial tension. In the material development, single fiber pullout tests and matrix fracture tests were performed, followed by micromechanical analyses to properly select the range of mixture proportion. Subsequent direct tensile tests were employed to assess the strain-hardening behavior of the composite, which exhibited high ductility and strength with the addition of slag. High ductility is most likely due to enhanced workability and fiber dispersion performance which is attributed to the oxidized grain surface of slag, as verified by fiber dispersion tests. These results suggest that, within the limited slag dosage employed in the present study, the contribution of slag to fiber dispersion outweighs the side-effect of decreased potential for saturated multiple cracking, including a slight increase in matrix fracture toughness and fiber/matrix bond strength.     

高掺量粉煤灰高延性水泥基复合材料的制备和性能

高延性水泥基复合材料(hjgh ductility cementitious composites,HDCC)是一种具有应变硬化、多缝开裂和高延性等特性的新型纤维增强水泥基复合材料,其材料设计必须取得基体韧度、界面黏结和纤维特性三者的最优组合,因此,HDCC的制备必须优选原材料和优化配合比,以取得最优的材料制备技术.从配合比设计入手,研究了粉煤灰含量、胶砂比等对HDCC力学性能的影响,优化了特定材料下的材料制各技术.结果表明:粉煤灰含量、胶砂比和养护条件对HDCC的拉伸性能均具有较大的影响.随着粉煤灰掺量的增大,砂含量的降低,拉伸应变增大.当砂含量较高时,基体开裂韧度较高,基体的极限拉伸应力下对应的极限拉伸应变较小,然而随着应力的下降,复合材料仍然能维持相当大的应变·     

Improved mechanical performance: Shear behaviour of strain-hardening cement-based composites (SHCC)

The retardation of moisture and gas ingress associated with important degradation mechanisms in cement-based composites in general and reinforced concrete or prestressed concrete in particular is an ongoing research focus internationally. A dense outer layer is generally accepted to significantly enhance durability of structural concrete. However, cracking leads to enhanced ingress, unless the cracks are restricted to small widths. Strain-hardening cement-based composites (SHCC) make use of fibres to bridge cracks, whereby they are controlled to small widths over a large tensile deformation range. In this paper, SHCC shear behaviour is studied, verifying that the cracks which arise in pure shear are also controlled to small widths in these materials. The design of an Iosipescu shear test setup and specific SHCC geometry is reported, as well as the results of a test series. A computational model for SHCC, based on finite element theory and continuum damage mechanics, is elaborated and shown to capture the shear behaviour of SHCC.     

Assessment of the Interfacial Properties of Ceramic-Matrix Composites Using Strain Partition under Load

The interfacial sliding stress is a key parameter in the global behavior of ceramic-matrix composites. An ultrasonic characterization, through the complete determination of the stiffness tensor along a tensile test, detects all the damage mechanisms: transverse matrix microcracking and the existence of longitudinal cracks at the fiber/matrix interface. It also allows a strain partition under load. A micromechanical model is established and gives access to the value of the interfacial sliding stress during the entire tensile test, whether the damage occurs at the mesostructural or at the microstructural level of the composite.     

Multiple Cracking and Tensile Behavior for an Orthogonal 3-D Woven Si-Ti-C-O Fiber/Si-Ti-C-O Matrix Composite

This paper presents experimental results for the multiple microcracking and tensile behavior of an orthogonal 3-D woven Si-Ti-C-O fiber (Tyranno™ Lox-M)/Si-Ti-C-O matrix composite with a nanoscale carbon fiber/matrix interphase and processed using a polymer impregnation and pyrolysis route. Based on microscopic observations and unidirectional tensile tests, it is revealed that the inelastic tensile stress/strain behavior is governed by matrix cracking in transverse (90°) fiber bundles between 65 and 180 MPa, matrix cracking in longitudinal (0°) fiber bundles between 180 and 300 MPa, and fiber fragmentation above 300 MPa. A methodology for estimation of unidirectional tensile behavior in orthogonal 3-D composites has been established by the use and modification of existing theory. A good correlation was obtained between the predicted and measured composite strain using this procedure.     

Mechanical Properties of Two Plain-Woven Chemical Vapor Infiltrated Silicon Carbide-Matrix Composites

The elastic and inelastic properties of a chemical vapor infiltrated (CVI) SiC matrix reinforced with either plain-woven carbon fibers (C/SiC) or SiC fibers (SiC/SiC) have been investigated. It has been investigated whether the mechanics of a plain weave can be described using the theory of a cross-ply laminate, because it enables a simple mechanics approach to the nonlinear mechanical behavior. The influences of interphase, fiber anisotropy, and porosity are included. The approach results in a reduction of the composite system to a fiber/matrix system with an interface. The tensile behavior is described by five damage stages. C/SiC can be modeled using one damage stage and a constant damage parameter. The tensile behavior of SiC/SiC undergoes four damage stages. Stiffness reduction due to transverse cracks in the transverse bundles is very different from cross-ply behavior. Compressive failure is initiated by interlaminar cracks between the fiber bundles. The crack path is dictated by the bundle waviness. For SiC/SiC, the compressive behavior is mostly linear to failure. C/SiC exhibits initial nonlinear behavior because of residual crack openings. Above the point where the cracks close, the compressive behavior is linear. Global compressive failure is characterized by a major crack oriented at a certain angle to the axial loading. In shear, the matrix cracks orientate in the principal tensile stress direction (i.e., 45° to the fiber direction) with very high crack densities before failure, but only SiC/SiC shows significant degradation in shear modulus. Hysteresis is observed during unloading/reloading sequences and increasing permanent strain.     

Microstructure and tensile behavior of (BN/SiC)n coated SiC fibers and SiC/SiC minicomposites

Interphase plays an important role in the mechanical behavior of SiC/SiC ceramic-matrix composites (CMCs). In this paper, the microstructure and tensile behavior of multilayered (BN/SiC)_n coated SiC fiber and SiC/SiC minicomposites were investigated. The surface roughness of the original SiC fiber and SiC fiber deposited with multilayered (BN/SiC), (BN/SiC)₂, and (BN/SiC)₄ (BN/SiC)₈ interphase was analyzed through the scanning electronic microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Monotonic tensile experiments were conducted for original SiC fiber, SiC fiber with different multilayered (BN/SiC)_n interfaces, and SiC/SiC minicomposites. Considering multiple damage mechanisms, e.g., matrix cracking, interface debonding, and fibers failure, a damage-based micromechanical constitutive model was developed to predict the tensile stress-strain response curves. Multiple damage parameters (e.g., matrix cracking stress, saturation matrix crack stress, tensile strength and failure strain, and composite’s tangent modulus) were used to characterize the tensile damage behavior in SiC/SiC minicomposites. Effects of multilayered interphase on the interface shear stress, fiber characteristic strength, tensile damage and fracture behavior, and strength distribution in SiC/SiC minicomposites were analyzed. The deposited multilayered (BN/SiC)_n interphase protected the SiC fiber and increased the interface shear stress, fiber characteristic strength, leading to the higher matrix cracking stress, saturation matrix cracking stress, tensile strength and fracture strain.     

Damage process modeling on SMC

The damage processes taking place in SMC, which has been subjected to monotonically increasing tensile loads, are analyzed and the stress-strain curves are calculated. SMC is viewed as a laminate consisting of fiber bundles embedded in a resin/filler matrix. The stiffness of bundles and matrix is expected to be influenced by developing cracks, which lead to a reduction of the total stiffness of the SMC. Crack creation, and consequent bundle and matrix stiffness reduction, are viewed as a statistical process. The quadratic criterion in stress space and the maximum strain criterion are used to predict failure in the fiber bundles and in the matrix, respectively. Residual stresses resulting from the high curing temperatures, anisotropic fiber orientation, and varying content of filler particles in the matrix, inside and outside of the fiber bundles, are taken into account. The comparison of predicted stress-strain curves to experimental results, obtained on almost 20 different SMC materials, shows very good agreement, especially at elongations less than 1%. The model developed in this work allows us to appreciate quantitatively the influence of different material and processing parameters on the behavior of SMC, and in this way, to optimize its composition. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The moisture and temperature effect on mechanical performance of flax/starch composites in quasi‐static tension

The effect of temperature and moisture on mechanical behavior of flax fiber/starch based composites was investigated experimentally. Elastic modulus, the nonlinear tensile loading curves, and failure strain were analyzed. Neat matrix and composites with 20 and 40% weight content of fibers were tested. It was found, performing tests with different amplitudes, that microdamage development with stress is rather limited and the related elastic modulus reduction in this type of composites is not significant. It was shown that the composite elastic modulus and failure stress are linearly related to the maximum tensile stress in resin. The sensitivity of the maximum stress of the resin with respect to temperature and moisture is the source of composites sensitivity to these parameters. Constant interface stress shear lag model for stress transfer assuming matrix yielding at the fiber/matrix interface has been successfully used to explain the tensile test data. It indicates that the sensitivity of the used composite with respect to the matrix properties change could be significantly reduced by increasing the average fiber length from 0.9 mm to 1.5 mm. POLYM. COMPOS., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers     

玄武岩复合材料筋增强ECC受拉性能及裂缝控制机理

工程水泥基复合材料(ECC)因其高韧性和多缝开裂特性成为研究热点,纤维复合材料(FRP)因具有抗拉强度高、密度小、耐腐蚀性好等优点而受到广泛关注。为研究玄武岩复合材料(BFRP)筋增强ECC(BFRP-ECC)的受拉性能以及筋材对基体的裂缝控制机理,考虑了基体类别和配筋率等因素,对ECC狗骨试件、BFRP-ECC和BFRP-砂浆薄板试件进行了单轴拉伸试验,同时借助数字图像相关法(DIC)技术获得了试件受拉过程中的全场应变和开裂状态,基于Richard的弹塑性应力应变公式提出了BFRP-ECC单轴受拉应力应变本构模型。结果表明：BFRP-ECC的极限拉应力随配筋率的增加而增大;ECC基体对复合材料的受拉性能增强效果优于砂浆基体,同时以ECC为基体的复合材料在裂缝间距和宽度控制上都明显优于以砂浆为基体的复合材料;BFRP筋能增加BFRP-ECC裂缝处的桥连应力,减小裂缝间距和宽度,增加裂缝数量。本文建立的BFRP-ECC单轴受拉应力应变本构模型与试验数据吻合良好,较好地反映了BFRP-ECC受拉应力应变关系。     

The relation between fiber orientation and tensile behavior in an Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites (UHPFRCC)

In this study, the effect of the fiber orientation distribution on the tensile behavior of Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites (UHPFRCC) was investigated. The tensile behavior was explored separately in two stages; pre-cracking and post-cracking tensile behaviors. Pre-cracking tensile behavior is expressed using the mechanism of elastic shear transfer between the matrix and the fiber in the composites. Post-cracking tensile behavior was expressed as the combined behavior of the resistance by the fibers and the matrix, considering a probability density distribution for the fiber orientation distribution across crack surface and a pullout model of steel fiber. The effect of the fiber orientation distribution was found to be very small on pre-cracking behavior, but to be significant on post-cracking behavior of UHPFRCC. The predicted results were compared with the experimental results, and the comparison presented satisfactory agreement.     

Electrical Resistance of SiC Fiber Reinforced SiC/Si Matrix Composites at Room Temperature during Tensile Testing

The implementation of Ceramic Matrix Composites necessitates the understanding of stress‐dependent damage evolution. Toward this goal, two liquid silicon infiltrated SiCf reinforced SiC composites were tensile tested with electrical resistance (ER) monitoring as well as acoustic emission to quantify matrix cracking. ER was modeled using a combination of resistors in series and parallel to model transverse matrix cracks and fiber/matrix segments between matrix cracks. It is shown that resistance change is sensitive to transverse matrix crack formation and stress‐dependent debonding length. The model appears to be accurate up to the stress for matrix crack saturation.     

二维二轴单向编织铺层复合材料拉伸性能的研究

提出了一种新型的二维二轴单向编织结构,研究了编织角和纤维体积分数的变化对该种结构复合材料拉伸性能的影响,并结合编织结构的特点分析了试样在拉伸破坏过程中的裂纹扩展模式。结果表明,上述编织复合材料的拉伸强度随纤维体积分数的增加而增加,但编织角的小幅度变化对拉伸性能影响较小。受编织结构的影响,试样内部在拉伸载荷作用下形成了两种分布规律的裂缝,层内裂缝沿样品厚度方向延伸,相邻铺层内的裂缝没有构成连续的扩展;层间裂缝沿着层与层的接触面延伸,表现为层间分层效应。二维二轴单向编织铺层复合材料内部裂缝的扩展模式综合表现为由上下铺层逐层向中心铺层扩展。本文的研究结果对于该类结构材料的设计与应用具有一定的指导意义。     

Tensile behavior of textile reinforced concrete subjected to freezing–thawing cycles in un-cracked and cracked regimes

This work investigates the tensile behavior of a textile reinforced concrete (TRC) reinforced with an alkali resistant glass fabric when exposed to freezing–thawing cycles. This paper presents tensile tests carried out on prismatic specimens after their exposure to a different number of freezing–thawing cycles (up to 500). Both un-cracked and pre-cracked specimens were treated and then tested. In all the tests the load direction was aligned with the fabric warp. The influence of this severe environmental condition on ductility and strength of the composite is investigated. The behavior of the composite material seems to be governed, on one side, by the damage due to the thermal cycles and, on the other side, by the matrix self-healing and late hydration due to the permanence in water of the specimens. The latter phenomenon is enhanced by the presence of cracks in pre-cracked specimens, which facilitates the penetration of water.     

Stress profiles around broken fibers in unidirectional composites using influence superimposition technique

The stress transfer from broken to its unbroken adjacent neighboring fibers in unidirectional fibrous composites under a tensile loading applied in the fiber axis is analyzed using a two‐dimensional (2D) shear lag model. The numerical solutions to the governing equations is greatly simplified by the assumptions that the displacements perpendicular to the fiber direction can be ignored, and the axial displacements are uniform over the cross section of any fiber. Using an influence function superimposition technique, closed‐form analytical expressions are used to predict stress profiles in both the fiber and matrix because of any number and arbitrary array of fiber breaks in the presence of matrix shear failure. These are compared to stress concentrations predicted using the finite element analysis (FEA). It is shown that the 2D modeling presented here does generalize the governing equations to include interactions with multiple damage events. The micromechanical model is vital to develop the basic mechanics that are necessary to understand failure behavior of the composite produced by the failure of one or more of its components. POLYM. COMPOS., 2013 © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers