The effect of nylon fibers on mechanical properties of Engineered Cementitious Composites

(ECCs)

Mana Halvaei1, Masoud Jamshidi2,*, Masoud Latifi1, Zahra Behdouj1

1

Textile Engineering Department, Textile Excellence & Reasearch Centers, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
2

School of Chemical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
*

mjamshidi@iust.ac.ir

Abstract
The advantages of staple fibers as reinforcement in cement based composites are well known. The interaction
between fiber and cementitious matrix is effective in mechanical properties of composites. Engineered
cementitious composite (ECC), is a new type of high performance fiber reinforced cementitious composites with
high ductility. It is used for seismic applications, impact and blast resistant structures. The flexural strength of
these composites is very high. This is why they were named as bendable concrete. Polyvinyl alcohol fibers are
introduced as the best reinforcement for ECCs, but unfortunately they are not produced in our country. In this
paper, a commercial ECC mix design is used and the feasibility of application of low modulus polymeric fibers
instead of PVA fibers is investigated. For this reason, the three point bending tests are carried out on ECC sheets
containing 2% by volume of nylon 66 fibers with two different lengths. Results show that the flexural toughness
of ECC specimens with 12mm nylon 66 fibers is increased more than 130 times in comparison to the control
specimen. Furthermore, the flexural behavior of ECC samples is improved with increase in fiber length.

Keywords: engineered cementitious composite (ECC), flexural toughness, ductility, nylon fibers.

Introduction
Nowadays, the advantages of staple fibers as reinforcement in cementitious composites are well known. Fibers
usually play two important roles in cement based composites which are improve the flexural or tensile properties
of the composites and preventing crack creation and propagation in the matrix by bridging on the micro cracks
[1].
After introduction of asbestos fibers as reinforcement in construction industry [2], the advantages of other fibers
such as short steel fibers [3], mineral and natural fibers [4-6] are evident. It is well known that various synthetic
fibers such as acrylic [5], nylon [7-9], polyvinyl alcohol [10], polypropylene [11,12] and polyethylene fibers [13]
can also be applied as good reinforcement.
Engineered cementitious composite (ECC) is a new kind of high performance fiber reinforced cementitious
composites (HPFRCCs) which had been already presented by Naaman and Reinhardt [14]. ECC which was
1

provided by Professor Victor C. Li, in university of Michigan in 1993 has a typical moderate tensile strength of
4-6 MPa and high ductility of 3-5%. The coarse aggregates have been removed from the ECCs mix design [3].
Generally, ECCs show two important and particular characteristics, which are multiple micro crack formation
and strain hardening behavior. The strain hardening behavior means a rise in tensile deformation accompanied
by a rise in load after the first cracking [3].
ECCs individual properties had introduced them as suitable materials for surface repair and retrofitting, surface
repair of dam and irrigation channels, surface repair of retaining walls and viaducts, bridge decks, dampers for
buildings, etc. [15-17]. In addition, it is found that ECCs are suitable materials for seismic applications, impact
and blast resistant structures [18].
As the composite properties depends on the fiber, matrix and interface properties, some researchers have focused
on the effect of fiber types and their characterization on mechanical properties of fiber reinforced cement based
composites. In case of engineered cementitious composites, there are different fibers such as steel, carbon and
polymeric fibers which are applied as reinforcement [3,11,19]. It is expressed that PVA fibers are the best fibers
for application in ECCs [3]. Since these fibers are not produced in Iran, in this study the feasibility of using
regular polymeric fibers instead of PVA fibers is investigated. In this paper the effects of nylon 66 fibers on
flexural behavior of ECC samples are studied. It was found that nylon 66 fibers increased the flexural strength
and deflection of control sample considerably. It was also found that although the flexural strength of ECC
specimens containing nylon 66 fibers are less than PVA-ECC specimens, but it is possible to replaced PVA
fibers by nylon 66 fibers.
Experimental Procedures
- Materials and Methods
Ordinary Portland cement type II, manufactured by Tehran Cement Co. was used in this study. The chemical
properties of the cement are shown in Table 1.
Ingredients
Content (%)

SiO2
20.82

Table 1. Chemical composition of used cement (%).

Al2O3
Fe2O3
CaO
MgO
4.98
3.57
62.84
2.79

SO3
2.24

other
2.76

Nylon 66 fibers with tire cord grade and two different lengths (6mm and 12mm) were used as reinforcement.
The single fiber tensile test was performed using Instron 5566 machine according to ASTM D3822-07 [20].The
test was carried out in textile engineering department of Amirkabir University of technology. Figure 1 shows the
tenacity-elongation curve of these fibers.

Tenacity (cN/dtex)

8
6
4
2
0
0

10

15

20

Elongation (%)
Figure 1: Tenacity-elongation curve of nylon 66 fibers.

The physical properties of nylon 66 fibers are shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Physical properties of nylon 66 fibers.

Molecular
Molecular weight Linear density
Fiber type
formula
(g/mol)
(dtex)*
nylon 66
C12H22O2N2
226
6.7
*
dtex = decitex, which is the mass (g) of 10000m of certain fiber.

Tensile
load (cN)
52.7

Elongation
(%)
15.2

Tenacity
(cN/dtex)
7.9

Tenacity is defined as specific strength and calculated as tensile load over linear density.
The ECC mix design which is presented in Table 3 was used according to ECC-M45 [3]. In this mixture, the
water to cementitious materials (cement and fly ash) ratio and the maximum grain size of fine silica sand were
0.25 and 200m, respectively.
Table 3. ECC mix design proportions by weight for one sample.

Ingredients
Content

Cement
1

Fly ash
1.2

Sand
0.8

Water
0.56

Super plasticizer
0.01

Fiber (vol%)
2%

- Specimen Preparation and Test Method

In order to investigate the flexural behavior of ECC composites, five specimens, containing 2 volume
percentages of short staple fibers were prepared in each sampling. The dimensions of the specimens were
230mm100mm9mm. Furthermore, control sample (five ECC specimens without fiber) was produced and
tested to compare the effect of fibers. The specimens were cured at the temperature of 252C and
approximately 955% relative humidity.
After curing, the three point bending tests were carried out using a Zwick-1494 machine based on BS EN-12467
standard [21]. The test was performed in mechanics department of Amirkabir University of technology.
The results were calculated in the form of stress-deflection curve and then the flexural toughness of the samples
was calculated from the surface area under the curve by trapezoid method.
Results and Discussions
To compare the flexural behavior of ECC specimens containing fibers with control specimens, one curve with
behavior more similar to average state was selected among the five curves obtained from these tests. Results are
illustrated in Figure 2.
3

Flexural stress (MPa)

control

nylon 66 (6mm)

nylon 66 (12mm)

0
0

20

40
Deflection (mm)

60

80

Figure 2: stress-deflection curve of the ECC samples

It is evident that control sample is quite brittle similar to ordinary cement based materials and it has fractured
suddenly without deflection hardening behavior. Addition of fibers has increased the maximum flexural strength
of the composites in comparison to control sample. In fact, tensile strength occurs in composite under flexural
load and the fibers bear the created tensile stress. Thus composite flexural strength is increased.
As illustrated in Figure 2, increase in fibers length leads to increase in flexural strength and deflection of
specimens. In general, as the fiber length is increased at the same volume percentage, the number of fibers
existing in matrix is decreased; but the probability of fibers elongation is increased. This leads to increase in
crack width control due to increase in sustained stress by fibers.
As expected the flexural stress increased even after first peak in the stress-deflection curve up to second peak
(i.e. deflection hardening behavior) which can be seen in Figure 3. Thereafter, these samples show flexural
softening behavior.

Flexural stress (MPa)

control

nylon 66 (6mm)

nylon 66 (12mm)

0
0

3
Deflection (mm)

Figure 3: The initial part of stress-deflection curves of ECC samples.

The characteristics of the flexural stress-deflection curves are summarized in Table 4.

Table 4. Three point bending tests results for ECC sheets.

Fiber type in ECC

samples
control (without
fiber)
nylon 66
nylon 66

Fibers
length
(mm)

Strength
(MPa)

Max
deflection
(mm)

Stress at
second peak
(MPa)

Deflection at
second peak
(mm)

6.15

0.46

6
12

6.51
7.20

37.13
76.64

4.63
5.10

2.12
5.01

It should be noted that although the flexural strength of ECC samples containing nylon 66 fibers have increased,
but it is still less than the flexural strength of PVA-ECC which is reported by other researchers that can be in
range of 10-15 MPa [3].
It is also found that employment of nylon 66 fibers with 12mm in length increases the specimens toughness (i.e.
the surface area under the flexural stress-deflection curves) more than 130 times in comparison to the control
sample which this was attributed to the increase in the deflection of the specimens containing fibers (Figure 4).

Flexural toughness (mJ/mm2)

200

186.68

150

100
58.66
50
1.35
0
control

nylon 66 (6mm)

nylon 66 (12mm)
mm)

Figure 4: Flexural toughness of the ECC samples.

compl
It was also found that failure modes are different in various samples. Control ECC sheets fractured completely
after three point bending test, while composites containing nylon 66 fibers were not fracture even after higher
deflections due to formation of micro cracks instead of propagation of the first crack. It should be noted that
although these ECC specimens showed strain hardening behavior, but they are not as flexible as PVA-ECC
PVA
specimens (Figure 5).

(a)

(b)
Figure 5:: Failure mode in ECC sheet reinforced with (a) nylon 66 fibers and (b) PVA fibers[22].
fibers[

Conclusion
In this study, nylon 66 fibers with two different lengths
length were applied in ECC matrix as reinforcement. Flexural
strength and flexural toughness of ECC specimens were investigated and, the following conclusions were drawn:
It was found that addition of nylon 66 fibers has improved
improved the flexural behavior of ECC specimens.
It was found that the flexural toughness and deflection of ECC specimens are increased with increase in
fiber length from 6 to 12mm.
It was found that nylon 66 fibers are more effective in increasing the flexural toughness
t
and they can
improve the specimens flexural toughness more than 130 times in comparison to the control sample.
It was found that ECC sheets containing nylon 66 fibers did not fracture even after higher deflections
due to formation of micro cracks instead of propagation of the first crack.
It is feasible to use nylon 66 fibers instead of high modulus/high price fibers as reinforcement of
Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECCs).
(
6

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