Abstract
Since the mechanical properties of cement-based materials are time-dependent due to the prolonged cement hydration process, those of fiber reinforced concrete(FRC) may also be time-dependent. Toughness is one of important properties of FRC. Therefore, it should be investigated toughness development of FRCs with curing ages to fully understand the time-dependent characteristics of FRCs. To this end, the effect of curing ages on flexural toughness development of steel fiber reinforced concrete is studied. Three point bending test with notched beam specimen was adapted for this study. Hooked-end steel fiber(DRAMIX 40/30) was used as a fiber ingredient to investigate w/c ratio and fiber volume fraction effect on toughness development during curing. Three different water-cement ratios(0.44, 0.5 and 0.6) and fiber volume fractions(0%, 0.5% and 1%) were used as influence factors. Each mixture specimens were tested at five different ages, 0.5, 1, 3, 7 and 28 days. The study shows that flexure toughness development with age is quite different than other concrete material properties such as compressive strength. The study also shows that the toughness development trend correlates more closely to water/cement ratio than to fiber volume fraction.