Effects of polyvinyl alcohol fibers (PVA) on Mechanical Properties of concrete

Concrete is a brittle material and the deficiencies of concrete such as low tensile strength, small ultimate strain and shrinkage are greatly limited the application of concrete. Fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) is concrete containing fibrous material which increases its structural integrity. It contains short discrete fibers that are uniformly distributed and randomly oriented. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber is as one of the most appropriate polymeric fibers to be used for fiber-reinforced concrete. This research demonstrates the effects of PVA fibers on the mechanical properties of concrete mixtures. This paper presents an experimental study on the properties of fresh and hardened concrete that was built with Polyvinyl alcohol fiber. For this purpose, five fiber fractions of PVA (0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1%) were used in the mixtures. The tests include slump, density, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, and modulus of elasticity. Test results showed that after the addition fibers, the workability Property of concrete was reduced. Also, it was seen that PVA fiber meaningfully increase the static properties of concrete as well as improving its post-peak response and ductile behavior.Moreover, high ratios of PVA fiber in the concrete mixture caused negative effects on the compressive strength of concrete. Finally, the optimum percentages of PVA fiber corresponding to the most significant increases in the mechanical properties were presented.