Characterization of Interfacial Bond Strength in Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites by a Modified Pullout Method

Abstract

This document entails the research work carried out to propose a new method for quantifying the interfacial bond strength in fiber reinforced cementitious composites. A modified pullout test has been designed to determine the interfacial bond parameters for natural fibers with cementitious system, and were repeated for artificial fibers for comparison studies. Steel, polypropylene, and wheat straw fibers were tested with the modified pullout method. Surface roughness studies were conducted on the same fibers to establish a relationship between the roughness index of fibers and corresponding bond strengths evaluated from the new method. Also, standard single fiber pullout tests were conducted for steel and polypropylene fibers. The pulled-out fibers were further analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy in conjunction. Peel test, an experimental study was also discussed in this research.