Influence of curing conditions on durability of alkali-resistant glass fibres in cement matrix

Glass fibres in concrete material often increase the flexural strength. However, these fibres when in contact with cement are altered by alkali reactions due to the presence of portlandite. This study presents the results of investigation to show the effect of curing conditions on the durability of alkali-resistant glass fibres in cement matrix. Test results show that even alkali resistant fibres treated with zirconium oxide present the same degradation phenomenon. They also show that the nature of the cement has a large influence on the protection of the fibres: the Portland CEM II is less damaging than the CEM I. The substitutions of a part of cement by silica fume gave no substantial improvements to the mechanical strength of the glass fibre reinforced cement (GFRC). However, the observed microstructures in the samples show that the degradation is weakened with the addition of silica fumes. The analytical techniques used in this study are scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction.