Submit to Materials Review for Materials Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

Durability and Mechanical Properties of Sustainable, High-Performance and Multi-Functional Concrete Materials

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 May 2023) | Viewed by 6398

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Yongchang Guo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: sustainability in construction materials; eco-friendly building solutions; enhancing structural durability; green construction innovations; high-performance and eco-friendly cement and concrete compos

Dr. Yu Zheng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Environment and Civil Engineering, Dongguang University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China
Interests: emerging structural materials and systems; structural use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites in construction; retrofit of structures; life-cycle structural engineering and numerical modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Yulei Bai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Faculty of Architecture, Civil And Transportation Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100000, China
Interests: green and sustainable concrete materials; FRP-strengthened/reinforced concrete structures

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since its invention, concrete has become one of the most commonly used construction materials in the world. In recent decades, as awareness of environmental protection has grown and construction demands have increased, a number of new highly sustainable, high-performance and multifunctional concrete technologies and materials have emerged. These include aggregate recycling, nanoparticle modification, fiber bridging, special environmental maintenance and so on. As a result of these new concrete technologies, UHPC, ECC, geopolymer concrete, recycled waste concrete, self-healing concrete and other newly developed concrete materials have been developed with improved mechanical and green properties, resulting in a variety of new features and functions that have contributed to the development of new concrete structures.

This Special Issue focuses on new concrete materials’ durability and mechanical properties, which are key factors in their application in engineering with regard to sustainability, high performance and multifunctionality. We intend to highlight new developments in concrete materials, with articles covering a variety of topics, including but not limited to the design and preparation, durability, mechanical properties, microstructure characterization and structural applications of new concrete materials.

Prof. Dr. Yongchang Guo
Dr. Yu Zheng
Dr. Yulei Bai
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

new concrete technologies
sustainable concrete
highly functional concrete
multifunctional concrete
durability
mechanical properties

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

18 pages, 5501 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cost-Effective Engineered Cementitious Composites with Hybrid PVA and Basalt/PP Fiber: A Study on Compressive, Tensile and Impact Performance

by Weibin Liao, Peizong Wu, Jiatao Huang, Gai Chen, Jiaxiang Lin, Yongchang Guo and Runsheng Chen

Materials 2023, 16(14), 5172; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16145172 - 23 Jul 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1071

Abstract

Currently, oil-coated PVA fibers are the most commonly used material in ECC research. However, the high price limits the application of PVA-ECC in practical engineering. In order to reduce the cost, one of the methods is to partially replace the PVA fibers in ECC. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of PVA/BF-ECC and PVA/PP-ECC, polyvinyl alcohol fibers (PVA), basalt fibers (BFs) and polypropylene fibers (PP) were added at 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% by volume of PVA in addition to 1% by volume of PVA. Subsequently, tensile, compression and drop-weight impact tests were conducted on single or hybrid fiber concrete. The results showed that the post-peak compression toughness, tensile strength, and initial cracking impact strength of PVA/BF-ECC and PVA/PP-ECC increased significantly with the increase in the volume ratio of BF and PP fibers, while the performance of PVA-ECC materials with the same fiber volume ratio decreased slightly. Therefore, the cost can be reduced by designing hybrid PVA/BF-ECC materials that meet the performance requirements. The experimental evidence presented in this study demonstrates the feasibility and reasonable prospect of the new hybrid PVA/BF-ECC. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Durability and Mechanical Properties of Sustainable, High-Performance and Multi-Functional Concrete Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

25 pages, 15652 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Study of the Compressive Behavior of Recycled Rubber Concrete Reinforced with Hybrid Fibers

by Xiaohui Li, Lijuan Li, Yingming Zheng, Yanlong Li, Zijiang Chen, Jie Xiao, Min Yuan, Jian Zhang, Zezhou Pan and Zhe Xiong

Materials 2023, 16(13), 4731; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16134731 - 30 Jun 2023

Viewed by 732

Abstract

With the development of the automotive industry, a large amount of waste rubber is produced every year. The application and development of recycled rubber concrete (RRC) can effectively reduce ‘black pollution’ caused by waste rubber. However, the addition of recycled rubber particles can lead to a decrease in the compressive behavior of concrete. Previous research has demonstrated that by preventing crack growth, fiber addition can increase the strength and ductility of concrete. In this work, a total of 28 RRC mixes are designed, and the compressive behavior of RRC reinforced by steel fibers (SFs) and glass fibers (GFs) is investigated. The workability of fresh RRC can be negatively impacted by an increase in both fiber contents, with the GF content having a more notable effect. With the addition of fibers, the maximum increase rates for the compressive strength, elastic modulus, strain at peak stress, and compressive toughness were 27%, 8%, 45%, and 152%, respectively. A constitutive model is concurrently put forward to forecast the stress–strain curves of RRC with various fiber contents. These findings indicate that the maximum improvement in compressive behavior is achieved when the GF content was 0.4% and the SF content was 1.2%. The proposed constitutive model can be used to predict the stress–strain curve of hybrid fiber-reinforced recycled rubber concrete (HFRRRC). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Durability and Mechanical Properties of Sustainable, High-Performance and Multi-Functional Concrete Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 45521 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Use of Geopolymer and Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer for Repairing Reinforced Concrete Deck Soffit

by Yeou-Fong Li, Guo-Wei Hao, Jin-Yuan Syu, Bian-Yu Chen, Wei-Hao Lee and Ying-Kuan Tsai

Materials 2023, 16(12), 4459; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16124459 - 19 Jun 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 978

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the feasibility of utilizing geopolymer for repairing reinforced concrete beams. Three types of beam specimens were fabricated: benchmark specimens without any grooves, rectangular-grooved beams, and square-grooved beams. The repair materials employed included geopolymer material, and epoxy resin mortar, while carbon fiber sheets were used as reinforcement in select cases. The repair materials were applied to the rectangular and square-grooved specimens, with the carbon fiber sheets attached to the tension side of the specimens. To evaluate the flexural strength of the concrete specimens, a third-point loading test was conducted. The test results indicated that the geopolymer exhibited higher compressive strength and shrinkage rate compared to the epoxy resin mortar. Furthermore, the specimens reinforced with carbon fiber sheets demonstrated even greater strength than the benchmark specimens. In terms of flexural strength under cyclic third-point loading tests, the carbon fiber-reinforced specimens exhibited the ability to withstand over 200 cycles of repeated loading at 0.8 times the ultimate load. In contrast, the benchmark specimens could only withstand seven cycles. These findings highlight that the use of carbon fiber sheets not only enhances compressive strength but also improves resistance to cyclic loading. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Durability and Mechanical Properties of Sustainable, High-Performance and Multi-Functional Concrete Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 5491 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Portland Cement-Based Grouts Enhanced with Basalt Fibers for Post-Tensioned Concrete Duct Filling

by José R. Zapata-Padilla, César A. Juárez-Alvarado, Alejandro Durán-Herrera, Miguel A. Baltazar-Zamora, Bernardo. T. Terán-Torres, Francisco R. Vázquez-Leal and José M. Mendoza-Rangel

Materials 2023, 16(7), 2842; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16072842 - 03 Apr 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1793

Abstract

In post-tensioned systems, grouts act as a last line of defense to prevent the penetration of harmful compounds such as chlorides, moisture and other substances that cause corrosion in the prestressing steel. For this reason, improving grouts results in the enhancement of the overall durability of the structure. In this study, the physical properties of grouts with basalt microfiber additions in the amounts of 0.03, 0.07 and 0.10% with respect to the mix volume were evaluated. The fresh properties included flowability and unit mass. Specimens were fabricated to evaluate drying shrinkage, compressive strength, air permeability and rapid permeability to chloride ions. The incorporation of basalt microfibers showed a beneficial effect on the physical properties of the grout by increasing the drying shrinkage resistance and decreasing the permeability compared to the reference mix and two commercial dry prepackaged grouts. The optimal grout mix was the one with a percentage of basalt microfibers of 0.10%, which decreased drying shrinkage by 15.98% at 14 days compared to the reference mix, and permeability to chloride ions decreased by 10.82% compared to the control mix. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Durability and Mechanical Properties of Sustainable, High-Performance and Multi-Functional Concrete Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 6004 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of the Behaviour of Steel Bar in the Concrete under Cyclic Loading Using Magnetic Flux Leakage and Acoustic Emission Techniques

by Noorsuhada Md Nor, Shahrum Abdullah, Mohamad Afiq Hazwan Mohamad Halim and Azli Arifin

Materials 2023, 16(6), 2172; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16062172 - 08 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1304

Abstract

The behaviour of the steel bar in concrete under cyclic loading has been evaluated using magnetic flux leakage associated with acoustic emission monitoring technique. Visual observation was used to observe the deformation of the beam under cyclic loading. The sensors of metal magnetic memory were scanned in the middle of the beam at a distance of 320 mm at the bottom part. Twenty-two cyclic ranges were performed for cyclic loading of 100 or 200 cycles for each range, with a frequency of 1 Hz and a sinusoidal wave mode. The magnetic flux leakage signal, acoustic emission characteristics and crack width were measured and analysed to evaluate the behaviour of the steel bar in the concrete beam. The magnetic flux leakage signal and acoustic emission energy results were well matched with the occurrence of cracks at the centre of the beam. It was found that the relationship between the magnetic leakage flux signal and crack opening showed a strong correlation with R² of 0.969. A high acoustic emission energy of 1300 nVs is observed at the centre of the beam. Based on the results, the behaviour of the steel in the concrete beam can be determined by the integrity assessment of a structure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Durability and Mechanical Properties of Sustainable, High-Performance and Multi-Functional Concrete Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Durability and Mechanical Properties of Sustainable, High-Performance and Multi-Functional Concrete Materials

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (5 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI