Self-healing behavior of strain hardening cementitious composites incorporating local waste materials

The self-healing behavior of a series of pre-cracked fiber reinforced strain hardening cementitious composites incorporating blast furnace slag (BFS) and limestone powder (LP) with relatively high water/binder ratio is investigated in this paper, focusing on the recovery of its deflection capacity. Four-point bending tests are used to precrack the beam at 28 days. For specimens submerged in water the deflection capacity can recover about 65–105% from virgin specimens, which is significantly higher compared with specimens cured in air. Similar conclusion applies to the stiffness recovery in water cured specimens. The observations under ESEM and XEDS confirmed that the microcracks in the specimens submerged in water were healed with significant amount of calcium carbonate, very likely due to the continuous hydration of cementitious materials. The self-healing cementitious composites developed in this research can potentially reduce or even eliminate the maintenance needs of civil infrastructure, especially when repeatable high deformation capacity is desirable, e.g. bridge deck link slabs and jointless pavements.