Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Multifunctional High Performance Cement Mortar Matrices Reinforced With Varying Lengths of Carbon Fibers

Abstract

An effective scheme to fabricate high performance and multifunctional cement based mortar composites reinforced with varying lengths of carbon fibers has been devised. The detailed investigations pertaining to fracture response of composites in cracks initiation and propagation phases, their conducting mechanism and volumetric stability were performed with varying loads of 6 mm and 12 mm long carbon fibers at two different w/c ratios i.e. 0.45 and 0.50. The experiments concluded that an optimum addition of carbon fibers results in substantial improvements in terms of fracture properties along with significant reduction in electrical resistivity and total plastic shrinkage. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) of the cryofractured samples evidenced an efficient level of attained dispersion, effectively restraining the growth of induced micro-cracks through successful crack bridging and branching phenomenon in cracking zones. The analytical results pertaining to critical pull-out length and percolation threshold using different theoretical approaches were found well an endorsement to the experimental results. Key Words: Multifunctional cement composites; Carbon fibers; Toughness indices; Ductility factor; Fracture energy; Percolation threshold