Effect of steel macro fibers on engineering properties of copperslag‐concrete

AbstractIn this paper, various engineering properties of the hardened concrete with copper slag and steel macro fibers are investigated. Normal grade concrete has been designed by varying the volume fraction of the fibers from 0.3 to 1.5% with higher aspect ratio (80). The setbacks of the concrete such as quasi‐brittle nature and low tensile strain capacity have been improved by adopting steel macro fibers along with copper slag. The study showcases the influence of macro fibers for five different volume fractions of fibers 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, and 1.5% with higher length (60 mm) and diameter (0.75 mm) on the mechanical properties and microstructure properties of concrete by incorporating 40% of copper slag as partial replacement of fine aggregate. From the observed results, the addition of fibers and copper slag showed significant results on the mechanical properties of the concrete for the adopted low water–cement ratio of 0.35. The compressive strength, tensile strength, and flexural strength improved up to 16, 54, and 72% for the volume fraction of 1.5% of the fibers compared to the conventional concrete without any fibers. Relationship between the mechanical properties has been compared between the existing empirical relations and the experimental data. Microstructure analysis (Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X‐ray Analysis) has been carried out to validate the bond performance and strength characteristics.