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Influence of microcracking on water absorption and sorptivity of ECC

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Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the water absorption and sorptivity properties of mechanically loaded Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC). ECC is a newly developed high performance fiber reinforced cementitious composite with substantial benefit in both high ductility and improved durability due to tight crack width. By employing micromechanics-based material design, ductility in excess of 3% under uniaxial tensile loading can be attained with only 2% fiber content by volume, and the typical single crack brittle fracture behavior commonly observed in normal concrete or mortar is converted to multiple microcracking ductile response in ECC. In this study, water absorption (ASTM C642) and sorptivity tests (ASTM C1585) were conducted to determine absorption capacity and sorptivity of microcracked ECC. The experimental program described in this paper indicated that microcracks induced by mechanical loading increases the sorptivity value of ECC without water repellent admixture. However, the use of water soluble silicone based water repellent admixture in the production of ECC could easily inhibit the sorptivity even for the mechanically loaded ECC specimens. Moreover, the incorporation of the water repellent admixture reduced the absorption capacity of the resulting ECC mixture. Based on this study, the risk of water transport by capillary suction in ECC, cracked or uncracked, is found to be low compared with that in normal sound concrete. The incorporation of water repellent admixture further lowers this risk.

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Acknowledgements

The first author would like to acknowledge the financial support of TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey). This research was partially funded through an NSF MUSES Biocomplexity Program Grant (CMS-0223971 and CMS-0329416). MUSES (Materials Use: Science, Engineering, and Society) supports projects that study the reduction of adverse human impact on the total interactive system of resource use, the design and synthesis of new materials with environmentally benign impacts on biocomplex systems, as well as the maximization of efficient use of materials throughout their life cycles. The authors would also like to acknowledge the helpful comments of the reviewers that let to improvements of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Gaziantep University, 27310, Gaziantep, Turkey

    Mustafa Şahmaran

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Victor C. Li

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  1. Mustafa Şahmaran
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  2. Victor C. Li
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Correspondence to Victor C. Li.

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Şahmaran, M., Li, V.C. Influence of microcracking on water absorption and sorptivity of ECC. Mater Struct 42, 593–603 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-008-9406-6

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