Comportamento de concretos reforçados com microfibras de polipropileno (PP), álcool polivinílico (PVA) e recicladas de poliéster (POL) em relação à retração por secagem restringida e às propriedades mecânicas

Abstract

Concretes with advanced technology become increasingly common in the construction industry. The development of mineral and chemical products encourages the generation of these composites, allowing the insertion of inputs with improved mechanical performances. However, even with numerous advantages, the new concretes are still susceptible to the incidence of cracks caused by shrinkage. As an inherent characteristic of cementitious matrices, shrinkage, when restricted, can impair the quality of the structure and, as a result, generate pathological manifestations. Studies have been carried out focusing on the mitigation of these anomalies, using primary and secondary reinforcements within the cementitious matrix. As an alternative, the fibrous reinforcements guarantee changes in the mechanical behavior of the mixture, such as tensile strength, tenacity factor, deformation capacity and cracking control. Thus, in this research, isolated and hybrid polymer microfibers were used in a reference cementitious matrix. The filaments consisted of polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and recycled polyester microfibers (POL). For this, the phenomenon of the drying shrinkage of the composites was evaluated by means of the restricted ring test, axial compression strength, flexural tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and toughness. The microstructure of the composites was investigated using the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), in order to identify the interface zone between the reinforcement and the cementitious matrix, as well as the physical integrity of the reinforcement in the concrete. The composites with microfibers presented greater drying shrinkage, when compared to the reference matrix, reaching deformations of more than 50 μm/m. All the blends reached a high cracking potential, with the samples containing PP and PVA microfibers which obtained cracking formation later (14 days). With respect to the compressive strength, the insertion of polymer microfibers significantly decreased the values in relation to the reference matrix. The toughness factor of the bundled mixtures was superior in relation to the reference concrete, increasing up to 38 times the results. On the other hand, the tensile strength in the flexion decreased values with the use of the filamentary reinforcements, except for the mixture with PVA microfibres. It was verified that the interface zone formed by the PVA microfibers was smaller, when compared to the other options, which proved the good results provided by the reinforcement. It was also possible to observe that recycled polyester microfibers were attacked in alkaline solution, unlike the others.