Mechanical Properties of Modified Engineered Cementitious Composites (MECC) Incorporating Marble Dust

Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) are a type of high-performance fiber reinforced cementitious composite. ECC has different applications in the construction field due to its inherent characteristics of high tensile strain. The main concern regarding ECC is its high cost. The content of cement is high contributing to its cost. In this research work, the cement in ECC is replaced with marble dust and its mechanical properties such as compressive strength and flexure strength have been assessed. For this purpose, both cubes and cylinders were tested at different test ages for finding the compressive strength development with time and observe the shape effect of specimens on the compressive strength of ECC mixes. Beam members were tested for finding the flexure strength of ECC mixes. Deflection gauge was also installed at the mid span on the bottom surface of the beams to find the maximum mid span deflection before failure. The compression test results of both cylinders and cubes revealed that using of marble dust has negative effect on the compressive strength of ECC. The flexure strength result showed that marble dust can be used up to some extent replacing cement will increase the flexure strength. The result of mid span deflection suggests that by incorporating marble dust in ECC, its ductility increases.