The effect of mixing on the performance of macro synthetic fibre reinforced concrete

Concrete suffers from brittle failure due to its low tensile strength. This drawback can be compensated for by adding reinforcement bars and/or steel fibres, and more recently, macro synthetic fibres. When mixing concrete with these fibres the aggregates could damage the fibres. This paper presents work done on the effect of mixing on the performance of macro synthetic fibre reinforced concrete. Single-fibre pull-out tests were conducted on various fibres in both the original and mixed state. Furthermore, flexural tests were performed to investigate the influence of mixing time and mixer type on the performance. It can be concluded that mixing is beneficial for flat type fibres, but the performance of crimped or embossed fibres remains the same. Furthermore, longer mixing times (>10min) in a pan mixer are detrimental to the performance, while the performance in a tilting drum mixer remains unchanged even after a mixing time of 60min.