Flexural Toughness Properties of Reinforced Steel Fibre Incorporated Alkali Activated Slag Concrete

The influence of steel fibre addition on the flexural properties of geopolymer based cementitious matrix was investigated in the present study. Slag based geopolymer mixtures were prepared with different binder and aggregate combinations. Strength gain and hardened properties of different geopolymer concrete mixtures were evaluated using accelerated curing techniques subjected to hot air oven and steam curing. Further, the steel fibre additions on the mechanical strength properties of a high strength geopolymer mixture were studied. A comprehensive evaluation on the post-crack toughness properties was assessed using four-point bend test. Test results exhibited that a geopolymer concrete of maximum compressive strength of 56.6MPa can be achieved with steam curing. Experimental observations also demonstrated that the steel fibre inclusions in geopolymer concrete provided adequate improvement on post- crack toughness properties and showed higher composite performance with increased volume fraction of steel fibres.