Sulphate Corrosion Mechanism of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) Prepared with Seawater and Sea Sand

Experimental Study of the Flexural Performance of GFRP-Reinforced Seawater Sea Sand Concrete Beams with Built-In GFRP Tubes

The use of seawater sea sand concrete (SSSC) and fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) has broad application prospect in island and coastal areas. However, the elastic modulus of FRP reinforcement is obviously lower than that of ordinary steel reinforcement, and the properties of SSSC are different from that of ordinary concrete, which results in a limit in the bearing capacity and stiffness of structures. In order to improve the flexural performance of FRP-reinforced SSSC beams, a novel SSSC beam with built-in glass FRP (GFRP) tubes was proposed in this study. Referring to many large-scale beam experiments, one specimen was used for one situation to illustrate the study considering costs and feasibility. Firstly, flexural performance tests of SSSC beams with GFRP tubes were conducted. Then, the effects of the GFRP tubes' height, the strength grades of concrete inside and outside the GFRP tubes, and the GFRP reinforcement ratio on the flexural behaviors of the beams were investigated. In addition, the concept of capacity reserve was proposed to assess the ductility of the beams, and the interaction between the concrete outside the GFRP tube, the GFRP tube and concrete inside the tube was discussed. Finally, the formulas for the normal section bearing capacity of beams with built-in GFRP tubes were derived and verified. Compared to the beam without GFRP tubes, under the same conditions, the ultimate bearing capacities of the SSSC beam with 80 mm, 100, and 200 mm height GFRP tubes were increased by 17.67 kN, 24.52 kN, and 144.42 kN, respectively.

Study of the Structure and Properties of Electrical Sand Concrete under Prolonged Exposure to Sulfate Environment

Destructive processes accompanying sulfate corrosion of concrete significantly affect the durability of products and structures based on Portland cement. In the presented study, the long-term effect of sulfate corrosion on the electrical properties of electrically conductive sand concrete was studied. In the course of the study, the following were tested: an electrically conductive composition and a control composition based on plain Portland cement. The analysis of changes in the mineral composition of the samples over the course of time in an aggressive solution was carried out. The results show that during the exposure period of the samples from 28 to 224 days, the absorption of sulfate ions slows down and averages 26% for the control composition and 29% for the electrically conductive composition, of the total volume of absorbed sulfates. At the same time, the course of sulfate corrosion was accompanied by a 6% increase in the density of samples of both compositions, as well as a cyclic change in mechanical strength within 15%. In its turn, the key indicator of the electrical characteristics of the compositions-electrical resistivity-tended to increase throughout the experiment. These results can be recommended for assessing the durability and the nature of the operating conditions of electrical concretes used in aggressive environments.

The Mechanism of Anticorrosion Performance and Mechanical Property Differences between Seawater Sea-Sand and Freshwater River-Sand Ultra-High-Performance Polymer Cement Mortar (UHPC)

There are abundant sea-sand resources on the earth. Traditional sea-sand concrete faced various problems relating to insufficient anticorrosion ability. In this paper, artificial seawater, sea sand, industrial waste, steel fiber, and polycarboxylate superplasticizer were used to prepare ultra-high-performance polymer cement mortar (SSUHPC). At the same time, freshwater river-sand ultra-high-performance polymer cement mortar (FRUHPC) with the same mixing ratio was prepared for comparative study. The compressive strength of SSUHPC reached 162.1 MPa, while the that of FRUHPC reached 173.3 MPa, which was slightly higher. Meanwhile, SSUHPC showed excellent anticorrosion characteristics in terms of carbonization, frost resistance and chloride resistance, and especially for sulfate resistance. The composition of SSUHPC was separated into three parts: mortar, pore and steel fiber, and the performance difference mechanisms of SSUHPC and FRUHPC were investigated by X-ray computed tomography (X-CT), mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The hydration degree of mortar in SSUHPC was higher, with higher content of CSH and CH, and its better optimized gel pore characteristics gave SSUHPC better corrosion resistance. The mechanical properties of SSUHPC were slightly poor due to the uneven dispersion of steel fibers and air pores, with an- air pore porosity of 1.52% (above 200 μm) that was twice that of FRUHPC (0.6%). In this paper, the mechanics and anticorrosion performance of ultra-high-performance polymer cement mortar prepared with seawater sea sand were comprehensively evaluated, and the mechanism of performance difference between SSUHPC and FRUHPC was revealed, conducive to the targeted improvement of sea sand concrete.

Experimental Study on the Characterization of Orientation of Polyester Short Fibers in Rubber Composites by an X-ray Three-Dimensional Microscope

Polyester-short-fiber-reinforced rubber composites have been detected by an X-ray three-dimensional microscope, and then the three-dimensional reconstruction of the image has been carried out to characterize the orientation of polyester short fibers in the composites for the first time. Based on the summary of three traditional methods and mechanisms of characterizing the orientation of polyester short fibers by the numerical parameter method, the direct test method, and the indirect test method, the method and mechanism of the X-ray three-dimensional microscope applied to the orientation characterization of polyester short fibers have been studied. The combination of the center point and threshold segmentation methods has been used to distinguish which fiber section belongs to the same fiber, and the identification of the whole short fiber in different slice images has been realized for the first time. Moreover, Avizo software has been used to realize the three-dimensional reconstruction of a polyester short fiber scanning image. The obtained data have been integrated and the orientation angle and orientation degree have been quantitatively characterized for the first time. This has filled the key technical problem of quantitative characterization of the orientation angle and orientation degree of polyester fibers. The image has been verified by 3Dmed software, and furthermore, the accuracy of the three-dimensional reconstruction results has been verified.