AUTHOR=Hakeem Ibrahim Y. , Hosen MD. Akter , Alyami Mana , Qaidi Shaker , Özkılıç Yasin O. , Alhamami Ali , Alharthai Mohammad 

TITLE=Effect of thermal cycles on the engineering properties and durability of sustainable fibrous high-strength concrete

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Materials

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/materials/articles/10.3389/fmats.2023.1094864

DOI=10.3389/fmats.2023.1094864

ISSN=2296-8016

ABSTRACT=In this research, the effect of heat-cool cycles (HCC) was studied on high-strength concrete (HSC) containing steel fibres (SF), polypropylene fibres (PPF), and date palm fibres (DPF), which were named fibrous high-strength concrete (FHSC). To produce FHSC, three doses of 0.2, 0.6, and 1 percent of each fibre were utilized. All samples were tested after 28-days of normal water curing and 270-days of exposure to HCC (continuing the authors' project and research published at 28- and 180-days). This entails heating for 2-days at 60 oC in the oven and cooling for another 2-days at room temperature for 270-days. The experiment's findings revealed that fibre reinforcement in concrete enhances its strength and durability. By incorporating the three types of fibres into high-strength concrete, with-and-without HCC, the modulus of rupture was significantly increased. In both conditions, including with-or-without the implementation of HCC, incorporating the three fibre types into the HSC showed a significant increase in toughness. As a result, natural date palm fibres can produce sustainable FHSC that can withstand harsh environmental conditions. Moreover, compared to the previous study conducted by the authors at 180-days, there is a slight severity in both the pattern of decrease and increase of the studied characteristics at 270-days caused by the effect of thermal cycles and fibres.