Effect of different fibers (steel fibers, glass fibers, and carbon fibers) on mechanical properties of reactive powder concrete

In the present study, reactive powder concrete (RPC) was investigated with three different types of single fibers that is, steel fiber (SF), glass fiber (GF), and carbon fiber (CF). Moreover, the effect of hybrid SF‐GF, GF‐CF, and CF‐SF on RPC was also investigated. In case of both single and hybrid fiber‐reinforced RPCs, a constant volume fraction of 2% fiber was used. A plain RPC was also produced that served as a reference/control mix. Studied parameters include compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, peak strains in compression, compression toughness, total energy absorbed in compression, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength. Results showed that among single fiber‐reinforced RPCs, CF‐RPC performed better than both SF‐ and GF‐RPC in compression. Whereas, single SF‐RPC performed better than GF‐ and CF‐RPC in splitting tensile and flexural strength, single SF‐RPC showed significant softening response compared with single CF and GF‐RPC. CF‐RPC showed comparable performance to that of the SF‐RPC in both tensile and flexural strength. But CF‐RPC showed lower toughness than SF‐RPC. Hybridization of 1%SF and 1%CF yielded maximum overall mechanical performance among both single and hybrid fiber RPCs. Maximum attribution (17–38%) of fibers was toward flexural strength compared to other strength properties.