Preliminary Analysis of the Ductility and Crack-Control Ability of Engineered Cementitious Composite with Superfine Sand and Polypropylene Fiber (SSPP-ECC)

Engineered cementitious composite (ECC) is a potential cement-based material with the abilities of large deformation and crack width control. However, ECC is difficult to popularize in many developing countries because the costs of silica sand and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber with a surface coating are too high for practical engineering. Therefore, we proposed an economical ECC with superfine river sand and polypropylene (PP) fiber (SSPP-ECC) to replace PVA fiber and silica sand. The SSPP-ECC proposed in this paper is a sustainable material using local material ingredients, which has considerable adaptability for large-scale engineering applications. The 16 groups of specimens were prepared through a factorial design method, curing for four-point bending tests. The bending strength, deflection, flexural modulus of elasticity, and crack width were measured and calculated during the test. The factor analysis of the test results shows that the contents of fiber and fly ash had significant effects on the ductility of SSPP-ECC with an extra combined effect at the same time, and a response surface model with high accuracy was fitted to predict the yield length of SSPP-ECC. The ductility of SSPP-ECC was positively related to its crack-control ability and it was shown that the crack width of SSPP-ECC increased significantly with a high content of superfine sand. This paper proposed a reasonable way to utilize superfine sand and provided the mix proportion of SSPP-ECC with characteristics of deformation hardening and multi-cracking, which may cater to the demands of many concrete components on ductility and crack resistance.