Choi et al. (2016) — Composite properties of high-strength polyethylene...

Citation

Jeong-Il Choi, Keum-Il Song, Jin-Kyu Song, Bang Yeon Lee (2016). Composite properties of high-strength polyethylene fiber-reinforced cement and cementless composites. Composite Structures, Vol. 138, pp. 116-121.

DOI: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2015.11.046
Atlas layer: extension
Related Victor Li book chapter: Chapter 7: Alternative and Green Binders in ECC; Chapter 3: High-Strength PE Fibers
Source PDF: choi-2016-composite-properties-of-high-strength-polyethylene.pdf
Extracted text: atlas/full_text/choi-2016-composite-properties-of-high-strength-polyethylene_full_text.md
Source note: atlas/source_notes/choi-2016-composite-properties-of-high-strength-polyethylene_source_note.md

Why this paper matters

Directly compares the mechanical properties and cracking patterns of high-strength PE fiber (1.75 vol%) reinforced cement paste vs alkali-activated GGBS paste at w/b = 0.34 and 0.38, revealing that alkali-activated composites achieve superior tensile strain capacity (up to 5.92%) and 27% tighter crack widths than cement paste.

Main contribution

Evaluated the mechanical properties and crack development of cement-based and alkali-activated slag-based composites reinforced with identical 1.75 vol% high-strength PE fibers.
Proved that AAS matrix delivers higher tensile ductility (5.32–5.92%) and 78.7% more multiple cracks than cement paste due to a higher bridging-to-cracking strength ratio ($\sigma_{tu}/\sigma_{fc} = 3.15$).
Showed that the average crack width in PE-AAS composites ($77.4\ \mu\text{m}$) is 27.1% narrower than in cement composites ($106.1\ \mu\text{m}$).

Evidence summary

Tensile strain capacity:
S38 (AAS, w/b=0.38): $5.92 \pm 0.63\%$
S34 (AAS, w/b=0.34): $5.32 \pm 0.72\%$
C34 (Cement, w/b=0.34): $4.88 \pm 0.78\%$
C38 (Cement, w/b=0.38): $3.91 \pm 0.58\%$ (Table 6, page 119).
Tensile strength: $9.80\text{ MPa}$ (C34), $9.53\text{ MPa}$ (C38), $7.89\text{ MPa}$ (S34), $5.96\text{ MPa}$ (S38) (Table 6, page 119).
Compressive strength: $75.9\text{ MPa}$ (C34), $60.8\text{ MPa}$ (C38), $43.0\text{ MPa}$ (S34), $31.3\text{ MPa}$ (S38) (Table 5, page 118).
Crack characteristics: Average number of cracks = 58.1 in AAS vs 32.5 in Cement; Average crack width = $77.4\ \mu\text{m}$ in AAS vs $106.1\ \mu\text{m}$ in Cement.

Linked Atlas nodes

04_material_systems/green_ecc.md
02_concepts/extreme_ductility_ecc.md
02_concepts/strain_hardening_criteria.md
05_experiments/direct_tensile_test.md

Claim-evidence rows to add

Atlas node	Claim	Evidence summary	Page/Figure/Table	Status
`04_material_systems/green_ecc.md`	PE fiber reinforced alkali-activated slag paste achieves higher tensile strain capacity (up to 5.92%) and 27% narrower crack widths than cement paste.	Tensile strain capacity reached 5.92% with crack width averaging 77.4 $\mu\text{m}$ in AAS vs 4.88% and 106.1 $\mu\text{m}$ in cement paste.	Pages 118-119, Table 6, Figs. 2, 3	verified_from_pdf
`02_concepts/strain_hardening_criteria.md`	Higher $\sigma_{tu}/\sigma_{fc}$ ratio in PE-AAS composite (3.15 vs 2.62 in cement) drives 78.7% higher crack frequency.	The ratio of peak bridging strength to first-cracking strength in AAS was 3.15, producing 58.1 cracks per specimen.	Page 118, Section 3.3, Table 6	verified_from_pdf

Verification status

PDF preserved: yes (choi-2016-composite-properties-of-high-strength-polyethylene.pdf)
Text extracted: yes (atlas/full_text/choi-2016-composite-properties-of-high-strength-polyethylene_full_text.md)
DOI verified: yes (10.1016/j.compstruct.2015.11.046)
Page/figure/table verified: yes
Claim-evidence matrix ready: yes

Cautions

Paste-only mixtures were evaluated; matrix toughness and $V_f^{crit}$ change when fine aggregates are incorporated.
Compressive strength of AAS paste (31.3–43.0 MPa) was lower than cement paste (60.8–75.9 MPa).