Characteristics of Novel Lightweight Concrete Strengthened by Waste Copper Fiber and Steel Fiber
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31272/jeasd.2969Keywords:
High-performance Lightweight Concrete, Mechanical Properties, Micro-steel Fibers, Waste Copper FibersAbstract
Fear of the increase in global warming, the construction sector seeks to find an alternative to traditional concrete. This paper aims to create high-performance aerated-polystyrene lightweight concrete reinforced by micro-steel fibers and sustainable waste copper fibers that meet sustainable criteria for sound and thermal insulation, and high compressive strength for lightweight concrete that satisfies structural criteria. The methodology was carried out by preparing reference lightweight concrete, in addition to eight aerated-polystyrene lightweight concrete mixtures reinforced by micro-steel fibers and waste copper fibers with ratios of (0.3, 0.6, 0.9, and 1.2) % by concrete volume for each kind. The mechanical characteristics, dry density, thermal conductivity, ultrasonic pulse velocity, scanning electron microscopy, and acoustic impedance were investigated, and compared with the reference concrete without fibers. The final results displayed that the maximum compressive strength of A-EPSC reinforced by micro-steel fibers and waste copper fibers were 56.9 MPa and 55.9 MPa respectively with a maximum density of 1917 Kg/m3. The originality of this research was to adopt waste copper fibers as a sustainable free-cost fiber resulting from the coils of damaged electronic and electrical devices instead of micro-steel fibers to produce aerated-expanded polystyrene lightweight concrete, as an alternative to micro-steel fibers.
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