Effect of polypropylene fiber addition on thermal and mechanical properties of concrete

The concrete is a brittle material which has low tensile strength and tensile strain capacity. These weak points of concrete can be fixed by using fibers made of different materials with high technical specifications in concrete. In this study, it is aimed to investigate the physical and mechanical properties of concretes obtained by using polypropylene fibers at different ratios by keeping amount of cement constant in the concrete mixtures. 100x100x100 mm cube specimens for compressive strength, 100x100x500 mm beam specimens for tensile strength in bending tests were produced. Also, 100x100x100 mm cube specimens for thermal conductivity tests were produced and these samples were tested by cutting to 80x40x10 mm. It was observed that as the rates of fibers were increased, ultrasonic velocity, water absorption and flexural strength were increased but slump, thermal conductivity coefficient and compressive strength were decreased.