AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON STRENGTH PROPERTIES OF POLYPROPYLENE FIBERS

Concrete made with Portland cement has certain characteristics: it is relatively strong in compression but weak in tension and tends to be brittle. These two weaknesses have limited its use. Another fundamental weakness of concrete is that cracks start to form as soon as concrete is placed and before it has properly hardened. These cracks are major cause of weakness in concrete particularly in large on site applications leading to subsequent fracture and failure and general lack of durability. Plain, unreinforced concrete is a brittle material, with a low tensile strength and a low strain capacity. The role of randomly distributes discontinuous fibers is to bridge across the cracks that develop, provides some post – cracking “ductility”. Fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) may be defined as a composite materials made with Portland cement, aggregate, and incorporating discrete discontinuous fibers. In this experimental investigation, an attempt has made to find out strength related tests like Compressive Strength, Split Tensile Strength, Flexural Strength using PolyPropylene Fibers with to volume fraction of 0.5% and 1% and for aspect ratio and considered for M50 Grade of concrete. A total No.of 40 specimens were casted, cured and tested. The real contribution of the fibers is to increase the toughness of the concrete, under any type of loading and permit the fiber reinforced concrete to carry significant stress over a relatively large strain capacity in the post cracking stage. The results of the tests showed that the strength properties are enhanced due to addition of fibers.