Performance analysis of self-compacting fiber reinforced concrete with e-waste fibers at various elevated temperatures

In the construction industry different types of concrete are used for different purposes. Self-compacting fiber reinforced concrete is one of the effective types of concrete for the structures having congested steel reinforcement. Most of the structures get exposed to the higher temperature in the case of furnace, boilers, thermal power plant etc. Hence, it is imperative to test the performance of these concretes at higher temperatures. In this research, the self-compacting fiber reinforced concrete of grade M45 has been tested using different types of fibers viz. hooked end steel fibers, waste fibers from glass industry and e-waste (resistors) as fibers. The compressive, split tensile and impact strength tests on the fiber reinforced concrete specimens exposed to the temperature of 550℃, 650℃ and 750℃ were carried out along with the microstructural analysis. Through the studies, it is found that the average compressive strength of concrete with glass fibers is 24.74% less than that of hooked end steel fibers. However, the compressive strength of concrete casted with resistors as fibers is 1.67% more than that of concrete having hooked end steel fibers. The concrete with resistors has better performance in split tensile strength test at 550℃ while concrete with steel fibers give more split tensile strength at 650℃ and 750℃. In case of impact strength, concrete with steel fibers give better performance than other two types of fiber at all the levels of elevated temperature. The permeability test was also carried out on the concrete and it was observed that the permeability of concrete increases with the increase in temperature. The SEM (scanning electron microscope) and EDS (energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) techniques were used for microstructural analysis of concrete at different temperatures.