An Experimental Study on the Effect of High Temperatures on Performance of the Plastic Lightweight Concrete Containing Steel, Polypropylene and Glass Fibers

Increasing demands for the use of lightweight concrete as well as blast-induced hazards in all over the world have led to performing extensive studies to achieve a better understanding of the behavior of the impact and heat-resistant lightweight concrete. In fact, the plastic concrete is of high ductility and low permeability whose compressive strength is much lower than that of the ordinary concrete. This type of concrete is obtained by mixing cement, sand, water and bentonite. Bentonite in this mixture is a type of clay that promotes its formation and stability. In this paper, the effect of steel, polypropylene and glass fibers on the post-heat strength (both tensile and compressive) of the plastic lightweight concrete has been investigated. To do so, after the process of heating on the specimens (exposure temperatures of 25, 100, 250, 500 and 700 °C), the compressive and tensile strength tests were conducted on the specimens. Accordingly, the results indicate that the addition of the steel fibers greatly affects the concrete strengths such that in some cases, the post-heat strengths of the concrete was enhanced by more than 40%. However, it was found that in contrast to the steel fibers, polypropylene and glass fibers leave insignificant effects on the post-heat performance, which is attributed to their physical and visual characteristics.