Effect of Plastcrete and Steel Fiber on the Mechanical Properties of Fresh and Hardened Concrete

Abstract

Plasticizers and steel fibers are used in several fields in civil engineering. They have been widely used in concrete industry to produce concrete with specific fresh and hardened properties; such as high strength, workability, permeability...etc. The main objective of this research is to study the effect of Plastcrete which is one of many different types of plasticizers and steel fiber on the mechanical properties of concrete containing steel fiber in order to produce high strength concrete of about 37.19 MPa with good workability. The Plastcrete used in this research was not heavily used in the production of concrete. These materials are considered as filler materials which means they don’t generally react to concrete components. The mechanical properties of fresh and hardened concrete have been studied for normal concrete without adding Plastcrete and steel fiber. Four dosages of Plastcrete were applied. These ratios were from 2% to 5% of Plastcrete and 2% of steel fiber for all samples. Also the current research studied using Plastcrete material and steel fiber with reduction of water by 27% of cement weight for all samples with different dosages ranging from 2% to 5% of Plastcrete and 2% of steel fiber for all samples. These materials were used to improve workability and compressive strength of fresh and hardened concrete .The slump test, compressive strength test were conducted for all specimens with and without adding Plastcrete and Steel fiber materials. The indirect tensile strength and flexural strength were carried out for concrete specimens having 3% of Plastcrete and 2% of Steel fiber for both with and without reduction of water.

Keywords: Superplasticizer, Plastcrete, Steel fiber, Concrete