Mechanical Properties of Engineered Cementitious Composites

With the advent of new materials, there is a constant need for designers to find innovative ways to incorporate these materials into new challenging applications. Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC), which belongs to a family of High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites (HPFRCC), is a class of ultra ductile short discrete fiber reinforced cementitious composite developed for such potential challenging applications. Strain hardening through multiple cracking in axial tension and tight crack width control are two unique properties put ECC in a category of smart material. Microstructure tailoring based on micromechanics may lead to extreme composite ductility of several percent in tension; a material property not seen ever before in discontinuous Fiber Reinforced Cementitious (FRC) Composites. This makes ECC superior to that of ordinary concrete which is having brittleness in both tension and shear as their inherent weaknesses. Recron brand Polyester type of fiber exhibit strong interaction towards other substrates being polar in nature because of which bendability of composite is achieved.

Dr. J. D. Rathod is serving as an Associate Professor in Applied Mechanics Department of Faculty of Technology and Engineering, The M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, (India) since 1996. He received his Ph. D in Structural Engineering in 2009. His area of interest is on development of Engineered Cementitious Composites.