Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology Vol. 1, No.

3, 269-282, November 2003 / Copyright 2003 Japan Concrete Institute

269

Tensile and Anti-Spalling Properties of Direct Sprayed ECC

Tetsushi Kanda1, Tadashi Saito2, Noburu Sakata3 and Masanori Hiraishi4
Received 31 March 2003, accepted 1 July 2003

Abstract
The use of Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC), which has metal-like deformation and crack opening restriction
ability, as a retrofit material for structures, has been the subject of high expectations. For this application, the direct spray
method has been commonly accepted. This study focused on experimentally clarifying the fundamental properties of
direct sprayed ECC containing high-performance polyvinyl alcohol fibers. The experiments that were performed demonstrated that direct sprayed ECC was successfully processed and showed pseudo-strain hardening performance comparable to that of traditionally cast ECC reported in the literature. Furthermore, test results simulating concrete cover
cracking due to re-bar corrosion demonstrated that direct sprayed ECC has significant potential to prolong service life of
R/C members in a heavy chloride environment.

1. Introduction
Engineered cementitious composite (hereafter ECC) has
been developed as an innovative cement composite
showing pseudo-strain hardening (PSH) behavior (Li
1993). This material is the object of high expectations as
an effective retrofit material since it has large deformability and crack width restricting ability (Lim and Li
1997, and Kamada and Li 2000). When using ECC as the
retrofit material on existing concrete structures, this
material can follow the movement of the existing foundation. Furthermore, even if cracking stress tolerance is
exceeded and cracks are formed in the ECC retrofit material, the crack width is restricted to a value less than 0.1
mm. Such crack width restriction is expected to enhance
the durability of retrofitted structures against attack by
harmful substances.
In retrofit construction, concrete or mortar is often
applied with the direct spray method, generally known
as shotcrete. This method has remarkable advantages in
process efficiency and cost under given construction
conditions. The shotcrete process has been widely employed for applications such as tunnel lining using conventional fiber reinforced concrete. There are two types
of shotcrete processes, the wet process type and the dry

Supervisory Research Engineer, Building Construction

and Materials Group, Kajima Technical Research
Institute, Japan.
E-mail: kandat@kajima.com
2
Industrial Goods Development Dept., Kuraray, Japan.
3
Chief and Supervisory Research Engineer, Materials
and Life Cycle Engineering Group, Kajima Technical
Research Institute, Japan.
4
Research Engineer, Materials and Life Cycle
Engineering Group, Kajima Technical Research
Institute, Japan.

process type (e.g., Uomoto 1999). In the dry process

type, powder materials and fibers are mixed with water
at the spray nozzle, which is very efficient in terms of
process speed. However, this type causes heavy air pollution, often leading to deterioration in work conditions
at construction sites. Materials with this type tend to
have rather large variability in hardened properties, due
for example to insufficient mixing at the nozzle. On the
other hand, in the wet process type, fiber mortar is
mixed in a mixer prior to spraying. This difference in
process from the dry type causes much less deterioration
of the work environment and less property variability
while providing less process efficiency. Thus the wet
process type may be more applicable than the dry process type to retrofit construction, which often occurs in
residential areas.
Processing of ECC with the wet spray process has not
been accomplished in previous development while ECC
processed using the traditional casting method has been
the object of substantial research (e.g., Kong et al. 2003).
This is because the fiber volume fraction in ECC, typically 1 to 2%, gives rise to processing problems such as
fiber ball cramming in the pumping system. Sprayed
materials comparable to ECC are reported with only dry
mix process in literature, which involves glass fiber
(Miyata et al. 1988).
This study investigates the material properties of
newly developed direct sprayed ECC in wet process.
First, basic material composition of sprayed ECC is
determined using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber by
means of micromechanics based design theory. Then the
designed ECC is experimentally processed with direct
spray method. Material test specimens are molded, with
which tensile and flexural tests are conducted. With the
test results, it is demonstrated that direct sprayed ECC
has comparable mechanical properties with traditionally
cast ECC. Furthermore, ECCs ability to restrict crack
opening displacement is revealed using the re-bar corro-

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Table 1 Property of PVA fiber (REC type).

Fiber

length diameter

Fiber
elastic
modulus Ef

Fiber
strength Specific
in stan-

gravity

Elongation

Lf

df

(mm)

(mm)

(GPa)

(MPa)

(g/cm2)

(%)

12

0.039

43

1620

1.3

dard test

sion simulation test, which is designed to reproduce

re-bar volume expansion due to corrosion and subsequent cracking and spalling of the R/C members cover
concrete. The results of this test show ECC has significant anti-cracking and anti-spalling ability compared
with conventional cement materials, which suggests
significant potential for prolonging the service life of
structural members.

2. Preliminary material design

Prior to determining ECCs material composition, preliminary material design is conducted. Fiber type selection is the first important step. PVA fiber is considered
almost the only practical choice due to its low cost and
high performance that carries the potential for future
commercialization. A past study demonstrated the PVA
fiber type (hereafter, REC type), whose properties are
described in Table 1, to be suitable for ECC (Li et al.
2001), and the REC type is selected for this study.
Second, the matrix mix proportions are determined,
performing adjustments to reflect the performance of
the REC fiber. This task may be effectively accomplished applying the micromechanics based model
(Kanda and Li 1999), which has been validated for traditionally cast ECC. PSH behavior in tension, which
characterizes the mechanical performance of ECC, can
be achieved if the following condition is satisfied (Li
1993).
Jb / Jtip 1

(1)

where Jb = complementary energy of the c- curve

(Marshall and Cox 1988) and Jtip = crack tip toughness
of composite. Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of eq. (1). The c- curve, which is called fiber
bridging law, in Fig. 1 shows the relationship between
fiber bridging stress and crack opening displacement
(COD) of composite. For PSH behavior, Jb should exceed Jtip as demonstrated in Fig. 1 (Marshall and Cox
1988, Li 1993). Jb is understood as the net energy
available for crack propagation (difference between
externally supplied work and fiber bridging energy
consumption) while Jtip represents the energy required
for crack propagation.

peak
Composite bridging stress

Fiber

While eq. (1) is the theoretical condition for PSH behavior, necessary Jb / Jtip level for this behavior in actual composites may be much greater than 1. This is
because lower Jb or higher Jtip than expected values
occurs due to performance variability in actual composites. Hence some margin in excess of 1 may be needed
for Jb / Jtip as a practical design criterion. Indeed, a
value of approximately 2.7 is suggested to achieve matured PSH behavior (Kanda and Li 2002).
Estimating Jb / Jtip is very effective for optimizing the
matrix mix proportions. This estimation utilizes the
mathematical model of bridging law (Kanda and Li
1999), where three different levels of water by cement
ratio (w/c) are assumed. The adopted parameter values
are listed in Table 2. In this table, nominal fiber strength
fun represents available fiber strength in crack bridging, which is experimentally obtained through
pull-to-rupture testing of single fibers embedded in the
matrix foundation (Kanda and Li 1998). As for fiber-matrix bond behavior, chemical bond strength s is
assumed to be replaced by frictional bond strength i
when the elastic bond is broken as the result of increasing applied interfacial shear stress (Leung and Li 1991).
Snubbing coefficient f is defined as a parameter representing friction enhancing effects due to fiber angle inclination from the perpendicular to the crack plane (Li
et al. 1990). Fiber strength reduction factor f shows the
strength reducing effects of this fiber inclination angle
(Kanda and Li 1998). A more detailed explanation of the
mathematical model and the parameters is provided in
Kanda and Li (1999).
Figure 2 shows the analysis result in the Jb / Jtip estimation. In this figure, Jb is not substantially sensitive
to w/c while Jtip rises as w/c decreases. Combining these
two effects, Jb / Jtip is increased with w/c as shown in
Fig. 2. This means that PSH behavior is more secured
with higher w/c, and 44% or higher w/c is appropriate to
practically achieve matured PSH in ECC by satisfying
practical design criteria (see horizontal broken line in
Fig. 2). However, in addition to PSH performance, it is
expected that the direct sprayed ECC studied here will

Jb
ss

Jtip

ss

peak
Crack opening displacement

Fig. 1 Schematic condition of Pseudo-strain hardening

behavior.

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Table 2 Parameter list for analysis.

Consistent
Fiber

Micromechanics parameter
Fiber length Lf
(mm)
Fiber diameter df
(mm)
Fiber elastic modulus Ef
(GPa)
Nominal fiber strength fun (MPa)
Fiber volume fraction Vf (%)
Matrix
Matrix elastic modulus Em (GPa)
Matrix Fracture toughness Km (MPa
m0.5)
Fiber/
Frictional bond strength i (MPa)
matrix
Chemical bond strength s (MPa)
Snubbing coefficient f
interface
Fiber strength reduction factor f
a
b
After Kiyota et al. 2002
After Hirsch et al. 1962

be applied in retrofit construction, where utilized materials are required to be highly durable. This requirement
necessitates lower w/c in ECC thus forcing one to compromise with moderate w/c. Hence this study employs
32% w/c, which maintains Jb / Jtip around 2.0 and
promises high durability due to the formation of a dense
hydration product. Indeed, the validity of this preliminary design was indirectly demonstrated since the determined mix composition produced pseudo-strain
hardening behavior in tensile tests as shown in a later
section.

3. Experimental program
3.1 Processing system and method
Figure 3 shows the processing system for ECC direct
spray. In this study, two types of mixers are used, an
omni-mixer with a 70-liter capacity and a concrete mixer
having two horizontal scraping axes with a 100-liter
capacity. As shown in Fig. 3, mixed fresh materials are
transferred with a mortar pump via a flexible tube to the
spray nozzle. Upon reaching the spray nozzle, the fresh
materials are accelerated with a high-pressure air and

J'b

0.006

0.002

W/C=62%

15.9
0.23

9.4
0.13

3.31
2.63
20.7
4.55
0.5
0.5
0.39
0.39
c
After Ogishi et al.1987

sprayed out of the nozzle. The pumping machine is the

squeeze type with a 6 m3/hr capacity. The flexible tube is
40 mm in diameter and 10m long.
During mixing with the omni-mixer, the powder materials are first mixed in a dry state for 0.5 min., and
then liquid materials are mixed for 2.5 min. After the
mortar is prepared, fiber is placed in the mixer, and
mixing is further continued 3.5 min. The mixing procedure using the concrete mixer was modified through
trial and error, using the omni-mixer results for reference.
The direct sprayed ECC in this study is applied in an
amount approximating 10 mm in thickness at a time on
account of not involving a rapid setting cement or admixture. However, applications of 10-mm thick layers
can be multiplied with given time intervals such as 10
min. to reach the desired thickness. It was experimentally confirmed that this repetition process enables us to
achieve up to approximately 80-mm thickness on a
horizontal surface sprayed upward, which is the most
difficult processing condition. This level of thickness

Jtip

Mixer

5
J'b/Jtip

4
3

J'b/Jtip

Jtip or J'b (kJ/m2)

0.01

0.004

3.14
21.6
0.5
0.39

W/C=42%

0.012

0.008

W/C=27%
12
0.04
40.6
1070
2
23
0.33

ECC
Flexble tube

Spray gun

2
Mortar Pump

1
0
25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
W/C (%)

Fig. 2 Analysis result of composite performance for PSH

behavior.

Fig. 3 Schematic processing system.

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Table 4 Mix proportion.

Table 3 Outline of ECC mix.

Air content (%)

15
25
OPC
A,D
B
LPC
C

A-C : mixed by omni-mixer.

D : mixed by concrete mixer.
Cement type

may be sufficient for ordinary retrofit application.

3.2 Mechanical property experiment
(1) Experimental Parameters and Materials
This study investigates a total of 4 mixes combining
three experimental parameters, named mix A, B, C, and
D, as shown in Table 3. Material test specimens belonging to these 4 mixes are cast by spray and tested in
tension and flexure.
Table 3 outlines the 4 ECC mixes used in this study.
As depicted in this table, these mixes differ in cement
type, air content after mixing, and mixer type. Two cement types are used, ordinary Portland cement (OPC)
and low heat Portland cement (LPC). The air content
levels are 15 and 25%, and two types of mixers,
omni-mixer and concrete mixer, are employed, as explained in the previous section.
The cement types are selected based on applicability
in actual construction processes. While OPC would be
the normal choice, this cement is not appropriate for hot
climates. This is because fresh OPC tends to generate
high temperature, causing lower fresh flowability and
problems during the spray process. Contrary to OPC,
LPC restricts fresh temperature to a low level and may
be appropriate for hot environments in the summer.
Concerning the mixer type, omni-mixers have often
been used for ECC mixing, and this type is mainly used
in this study. However, the applicability of omni-mixers
may be questionable at actual retrofit construction sites

(a) Tensile test set-up

Mix

Water by
binder
ratio
W/B

Sand by
binder
ratio
S/B

A,
0.32
0.41
B,D
C
0.32
0.42
*Air content is neglected.

Water
content
W(kg/m3)

Fiber
volume
fraction
Vf (%)

382

2.1

382

2.1

since such mixers are not compact and their operation

requires more labor than concrete mixers. Hence ordinary concrete mixers are added for investigation in this
study.
The rather large air content level in this study is the
result of the mix ingredients. The mixes in this study
include a moisturizing agent with urethane
(R-NHCOO-R) to enhance anti-segregation ability and
flowability. This moisturizing agent has a strong air entraining tendency and normal mixing leads to an air
content of over 20%.
Table 4 shows the mix proportions of ECC in this
study. The numbers in Table 4 are calculated not taking
into account air content. Water by binder ratio (W/B),
water content, and fiber volume fraction are constant in
all mixes. The binder consists of cement and fly ash
(type II specified in JIS A 6201), with a weight ratio of
7:3. Influencing the water content, a high-range water
reducer and moisturizing agent are added, representing
1.1% and 0.8% of the binder weight, respectively. The
used fiber is the aforementioned PVA, 0.04 mm in diameter, 12 mm in length, 1600 MPa tensile strength, and
40 GPa elastic modulus (see Table 1).

(b) Cut-out specimen

Fig. 4 Mechanical test specimen outline.

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(2) Testing Procedure

This study investigates the fresh properties and mechanical properties of the mixes. Fresh tests are conducted after mixing and after spraying, examining temperature, table flow (JIS R 5201), specific gravity (JIS A
1116), and air content (JIS A 1128). Mechanical test
specimens are cast by spraying on molds and by placing
fresh mix into molds.
Mechanical properties are evaluated mainly through
tensile tests in this study. The tensile test set-up is illustrated in Fig. 4 (a). The specimens have a gauge length
of 80 mm, width of 30 mm, and thickness of 13 mm.
The specimens, which are cast after mixing by directly
spraying on molds, are called sprayed specimens. To
clarify the effects of the spraying process on mechanical
properties, tensile specimens are cast by placing fresh
mixes in molds (placed specimens). Specimens are
de-molded 2 days after casting and cured at 20oC before
testing at age 28 days. Tensile properties are evaluated
using the average of at least three specimens.
Flexural tests are utilized in this study to investigate
the effects of spraying thickness. Flexural specimens are
prepared using three different processes. The first two
processes are same as tensile specimens (sprayed and
placed), and the other process consisted in cutting out
the specimen out of a massive solid (cut-out specimen).
The cut-out specimens are prepared with a procedure
whereby 1) 500 x 500 x 150 mm solids are cast by
spraying at one time, and 2) 40 x 40 x 160 mm specimens are cut out of the solids (see Fig. 4 b). The cut-out
specimens are named cut-out-top (top 50 mm),
cut-out-middle (middle 50 mm), and cut-out-bottom
specimens (bottom 50 mm), according to the section
from where they are cut in relation to the 150-mm
height. Flexural tests are conducted by mid-span loading
on a 100-mm span, with the mid-span displacement and
load being recorded. Flexural properties are evaluated

Loading head

using the average of at least three specimens.

3.3 Re-bar corrosion simulation experiment
(1) Outline of Experiment
It is generally known that concrete cover spalling in R/C
members due to re-bar corrosion is a significant danger
in infrastructure maintenance. However, regarding this
problem, no evaluation method for anti-cracking or
anti-spalling performance against re-bar corrosion has
been established. An experiment to simulate this spalling
phenomenon, based on the original idea set forth by Li
and Maalej (1994), was conducted as part of this study.
Figure 5 shows the testing setup for the simulation
experiment, where a tapered pin is inserted into a hole
in an ECC specimen (hereafter, anti-spalling test) to
simulate volume expansion of re-bar due to corrosion.
The tapered pin is manufactured from a stainless steel
bar specified in Japanese Industry Standard B
1352-1988 which has a 200-mm length and 1/50 taper
angle, as shown in Fig. 5.
(2) Experimental parameter and materials
A parameter in this simulation experiment is the material
type. Two materials are used in this experiments, ECC
and polymer cement mortar (hereafter, PMC). Both materials are processed with direct spraying. PCM dominates as a cementitious material in the Japanese rehabilitation construction market. The comparison of these
two materials is expected to demonstrate ECCs performance relative to the current practical technology
level. The ECC selected for this experiment is type B,
listed in Table 3, and the selected PCM is the most
popular in the Japanese PCM market. This PCM product
is provided as premixed powder with SBR polymer
dispersion in the market, but the detailed mix proportions
are not revealed by the manufacturer. PCM mixing is
conducted using the weight ratios of 100:3.7:13 for
powder, polymer dispersion, and water according to the
manufacturers instructions. ECC type B is mixed with
the same procedure as section 3.2 while PCM is mixed
with a pan-type mixer having a 200-liter capacity.
(3) Testing procedure
The specimens are prepared as follows. First, the spraying materials are molded in the formwork shown in Fig.

Fastening

Bearing plate

57

20

Specimen
foundation

200

knot

Tapered pin

Teflon sheet

20
0

14 3

41 5

Cutting line

16
100

10

50

150

Tapered pin
50
Fastening knot

25
160

Fig. 5 Loading setup for re-bar corrosion simulation

test.

Hole for tapered pin

Tapered pin

(a) Mold

(b) Specimen

Fig. 6 Mold and specimen geometry.

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T. Kanda, T. Saito, N. Sakata and M. Hiraishi / Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology Vol. 1, No. 3, 269-282, 2003

6 (a), which involves the tapered pins actually used in

loading. The same spraying system as that shown in Fig.
3 is used. After de-molding at age two days, specimens
are cured in 20C water. The tapered pins are removed
from the specimens at de-molding. Then anti-spalling
specimens are shaped into prisms as shown in Fig. 6 (b)
using a concrete cutter. These specimens are 100 x 100
mm square planes 50 mm in height and with a center hole
for the tapered pin. The cutting line perpendicular to the
tapered pin was 50 mm from the edge of the smaller pin
diameter side. Three anti-spalling test specimens are
shaped from one de-molded specimen and these three
specimens are tested for each material. The anti-spalling
specimens are tested with the loading setup shown in Fig.
5 at a curing age between 50 and 52 days.
The anti-spalling tests are conducted as follows. A
tapered pin removed from a specimen at de-molding is
inserted into the hole of a specimen by hand using
grease. Then the anti-spalling specimen is set on an
oil-pressure operated loading machine with a 500-kN
capacity. Loading is performed with displacement control, with the loading head traveling downward at a
speed of 2 mm/min. This means that the diameter of the
specimen center hole is enlarged by 0.04 mm/min.
The measuring data consist of insert displacement of
tapered pin (called pin displacement), load resistance for
this insertion, and crack opening displacement (COD)
on the specimen surface. Pin displacement is substituted
by the loading head displacement measured with LVDT.
COD measurement is conducted in two ways. One is to
use an optical microscope with which the first crack is
traced after its nucleation. Upon detection of first
cracking, the loading head is locked and the microscope
focused on the first crack. First cracking is clearly detected since the increasing load suddenly drops upon its
occurrence. A microscope image is digitally recorded
when the pin displacement is increased by 2.5 mm or 5
mm, and COD development is then obtained from image analysis. Second COD measurement is achieved in
terms of crack gauge. This crack gauge measurement is
conducted for all the generated cracks on the specimen
surface at regular interval of displacement increase. The
above two COD measurements are to be conducted at

the center point of the crack length that appears on the

specimen's side surface.
Specimens for tensile and compressive tests are simultaneously molded and cured with anti-spalling
specimens. The tensile specimens are same as those
shown in Fig. 4, and the compressive specimens are
cylinders with a 100-mm diameter and 200-mm height.
These are loaded at the same age as for the anti-spalling
tests.

4. Results and discussion of mechanical

property experiment
4.1 Results of mechanical property experiment
(1) Mixing and processing
Mixing was successfully accomplished using both the
omni-mixer and concrete mixer. However, when the
same procedure as the omni-mixer was employed, it was
found that the concrete mixer led to low viscosity in fresh
ECC. This resulted in fiber ball formation. Since this is
supposed to be due to low mixing efficiency, two modifications were made to the procedure. The first modification was to substantially extend the mortar mixing time
from 2.5 min to 15 min. The second modification was to
revise water addition during mortar mixing: 80% of
liquid materials was first added at the same timing as for
the omni-mixer, and the remaining 20% followed after 4
min. of mixing. This modification, which was determined through a process of trial and error, led to fresh
properties similar to those obtained with the omni-mixer
and resulted in appropriate fiber dispersion in fresh mix.
The spray process was conducted using an 8-mm diameter spray nozzle and a material pumping rate of 3
liters per min. The actual spraying process is shown in
Fig. 7. In this process, the sprayed materials for the 4
mixes were all stable in a 10-mm thickness on a vertical
surface. The fresh properties after mixing and after
spraying are listed in Table 5. In this table, one can see
that the flow value decreases after spraying compared
with after mixing, except for mix C using LPC. This
decrease appears favorable for material stability on a
sprayed surface. Furthermore, the air content decreases
to an almost constant level for these mixes after spray-

Table 5 Fresh property in mechanical experiment.

Temp.
Mix
A
B
C
D

Sample
after mix
after spray
after mix
after spray
after mix
after spray
after mix
after spray

()
24.1
17.9
23.1
19.0
23.3
20.7
20.5
16.2

Table
flow
(mm)
177
162
179
164
174
174
183
166

Specific
gravity
(g/cm3)
1.85
1.98
1.66
1.98
1.84
2.01
1.87
2.00

Air
content
(%)
14.5
7.8
25.0
8.4
15.0
7.0
12.5
6.6

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275

dure. Compared with Fig. 8 (a), placed specimens in Fig.

8 (b) show inferior strain and stress capacity at ultimate
points.
Sample flexural test results are shown in Fig. 9. As
shown in Fig. 9 (a), sprayed specimens demonstrate
similar flexural behavior independent of mix type.
Loads are sustained after cracking up to large mid-span
displacement such as 1 mm. Figures 9(b) and (c) show
the behavior of placed specimens and cut-out specimens,
respectively. These two types of specimens showed results similar to those of sprayed specimens in Fig. 9 (a).
4.2 Discussion of mechanical property experiment
(1) Tensile performance
Three characteristic values, first cracking strength, tensile strength, and ultimate strain, are discussed below to
reveal the effects of experimental parameters on tensile
performance. First cracking strength is defined as the
first bend-over point in the stress-strain relation in this
study. Since ECC shows steady state cracking propagation (Li and Leung 1992), which occurs without load
increase, the change in stiffness due to first cracking is
significant. This enables us to easily detect the first
cracking point on the stress-strain curve.
Figures 10 (a), (b), and (c) show the effects of experimental parameters on tensile performance. The data
in Fig. 10 are the averages of at least three specimens.
First, the effects of experimental parameters on sprayed
specimens performance are discussed. In Fig. 10 (a)
and (b), we can see that that differences in stress performance among the mixes are not significant. Strain
performance in Fig. 10 (c) shows a certain discrepancy
among the mixes. However, strain performance tends to
involve larger variations than stress performance, and
all mixes are considered to exceed the saturation level
of multiple cracking nucleation (Kanda and Li 2002).
Hence, it can be concluded that the effects of air content,
cement type, and mixer type are rather insignificant
within the limited materials adopted in this study. These

Fig. 7 Spraying process.

ing independent of the air content after mixing. This

decrease appears due to the pumping and spraying
processes, where air tends to be squeezed out. This implies that rather rough control of air content may be sufficient for the mixing procedure.

Tensile stress (N/mm )

Tensile stress (N/mm )

(2) Mechanical properties

All ECC materials in this study demonstrated typical
pseudo-strain hardening behavior, where their large tensile strain capacity was the result of fine multiple
cracking. Figure 8 (a) shows the tensile stress-strain
relation for sprayed specimens in the tests, and (b) shows
the same relation for placed specimens. As shown in Fig.
8 (a), specimens sustained load after first cracking up to
the ultimate point, which is defined in this study as the
point at which continuous load decrease begins. The
strain at these ultimate points (hereafter, ultimate strain)
is a large value exceeding 2% in all the specimens in Fig.
8 (a). This figure demonstrates that the 4 mixes in this
study are the first example of sprayed ECC exhibiting
clear pseudo-strain hardening behavior. Among those
mixes, mix D was mixed with an ordinary concrete mixer,
and this success will contribute to the industrial use of
spray ECC due to the practicality of the mixing proce-

5
4
3

First cracking point

2
1
0

: Ultimate point
0

mix-A
mix-B
mix-C
mix-D

2
3
4
Tensile strain (%)
(a) Sprayed specimen

: Ultimate point
First cracking

5
4
3

mix-A
mix-B
mix-C

2
1
0

2
3
4
Tensile strain (%)
(b) Placed specimen

Fig. 8 Example of tensile test result.

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results are explained below.

The air content after mixing was intended to be different for mixes A and B. However, this difference diminished after spraying as shown in Table 5. This implies that hardened ECC in mixes A and B have similar
air content. Indeed, the specific gravity values of hardened specimens were 1.98 and 1.97 for mixes A and B,
respectively. Note that the specific gravity was estimated from the size and weight of the flexural specimens for convenience.
The effects of cement types were clarified through
comparison of mixes A and C. The discrepancy in
chemical characteristics of cement may significantly
affect the fiber/matrix interface and fracture toughness
in the matrix. Specifically, chemical differences affect
the hydration rate, which is higher in OPC than LPC .
However, at age 28 days, where all tests were conducted,
the effects of this difference may diminish, thus causing
similar performance between mixes A and C.
The effects of different mixer types can be revealed
via mixes A and D. This study included modification of
the mixing procedure with a concrete mixer so as to
achieve fresh properties to those obtained with an
omni-mixer. This modification may have resulted in
similar material tensile performance between the
omni-mixer and concrete mixer.
Figure 10 also shows deviations in performances

15
10
5
0

First cracking point

0.5
1
1.5
Mid-span displacement (mm)

20

: Ultimate point

15
10
mix-A
mix-B
mix-C

5
0

(a) Sprayed specimen

: Ultimate point

mix-A
mix-B
mix-C

(2) Flexural performance

The effects on flexural performance of the cement type,
air content, casting process, and spraying thickness are
discussed below. Three characteristic values to represent
flexural performance were selected similarly to tensile

Flexural stress (N/mm )

Flexural stress (N/mm )

20

: Ultimate point

First cracking point

0.5
1
1.5
Mid-span displacement (mm)

mix-A
mix-B
mix-C

15
10
5
0

(b) Placed specimen

First cracking point

0.5
1
1.5
Mid-span displacement (mm)

(c) Cut-out-bottom specimen

Placed

Sprayed

5
4
3
2
1
0

Mix

(a) First Cracking strength

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

Placed

Sprayed

Mix

Ultimate tensile strain (%)

First cracking strength (N/mm )

Fig. 9 Example of flexural test result.

Tensile strength (N/mm2)

Flexural stress (N/mm )

20

caused by the casting procedure, i.e., spraying and

placing. All three characteristic values in Figs. 10 (a),
(b), and (c) reach higher levels for the sprayed specimens than for placed specimens. This appears due to the
fiber orientation and air content. In the spray process,
the spray nozzles were continuously moved parallel to
the sprayed surface and very thin sprayed layers were
built up. In these individual thin layers, fibers are oriented parallel to the sprayed surface, i.e., they have a
2-dimensional orientation. When a large thickness is
applied at one time, this orientation tendency is found to
be weak based on observation of the process. This is
because the sprayed materials tend to get mixed with
previous layers because they are sprayed on a soft and
fresh foundation. However, tensile specimens have a
thin thickness (13 mm), and thus a stronger tendency
toward 2-dimensional orientation of fibers than placed
specimens. This tendency may enhance the tensile performance of sprayed specimens. Furthermore, the high
air content in placed specimens may degrade performance less than in sprayed specimens.

Placed

Sprayed

4
3
2
1
0

(b) Tensile strength

Fig. 10 Effect of experimental parameter on tensile property.

C
Mix

(c) Ultimate strain

277

8
6
4
2
0

Placed
Sprayed
Cut-out-bottom

B
Mix

Cut-out-middle
Cut-out-top

15
10
5
0

Placed
Sprayed
Cut-out-bottom

(a) First Cracking strength

Cut-out-middle
Cut-out-top

B
Mix

(b) MOR

Flexural ultimate disp. (mm)

20

10
MOR (N/mm2)

Flex. first crack. strength (N/mm2)

T. Kanda, T. Saito, N. Sakata and M. Hiraishi / Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology Vol. 1, No. 3, 269-282, 2003

1.5

0.5

Placed
Sprayed
Cut-out-bottom

Cut-out-middle
Cut-out-top

B
Mix

(c) Ultimate displacement

Fig. 11 Effect of experimental parameters on flexural property.

property: first cracking strength, MOR, and ultimate

mid-span displacement. These values are defined in
accordance with those for tensile property.
Figures 11 (a), (b), and (c) show the variations in
first cracking strength, MOR, and ultimate mid-span
displacement depending on the mix type and casting
process. The data in these figures are the average of at
least three specimens. The deviation in performance
between mixes A, B, and C is not significant in these
graphs similarly to tensile property in Fig. 10. However,
the effects of the casting process appear to be different
from tensile property case in some aspects. In Figs. 11
(a), (b), and (c), sprayed specimens show insignificant
superiority to placed ones, contrary to Fig. 10. Mixes A
and B in Fig. 11 (c) demonstrate even lower ultimate
displacement in sprayed specimens than placed ones.
This may be due to the lesser tendency toward
2-dimensional fiber orientation in flexural specimens,
which have a larger spray thickness of 40 mm compared
to the 13-mm spray thickness of tensile specimens, as
shown in Fig. 10. Furthermore, more flaws may be involved in a spray process with a large thickness than in
the placed process, degrading flexural performance.
The effects of larger processing thickness are further
discussed with cut-out specimens. Figures 11 (a) and
(b) show insubstantial discrepancy in first cracking
strength and MOR between cut-out specimens and other
specimens. However, Fig. 11 (c) shows rather clear inferiority in cut-out specimens. Material solids for
cut-out specimens were cast by spraying 150 mm
thickness at once, and the effects of this process may
result in lower deformation ability, as shown in Fig. 11
(c).
Table 6 Fresh property of mortar after mixing in re-bar
corrosion simulation test.

Mix
ECC
PMC

Temp.
()
25.6
16.0

Table flow
(mm)
178
195

Air content
(%)
20.0
20.0

Nevertheless, the mechanical properties of sprayed

ECC may be accurately reflected by using sprayed
specimens for tension or flexure testing. This is due to
the facts that: 1) the load-displacement curves of cut-out
specimens have essentially the same tendencies as
sprayed specimens and placed specimens in Fig. 9, and
2) the processing thickness in actual retrofit construction, mostly on vertical surfaces or horizontal surfaces
sprayed upward, is limited to approximately 10 mm at
one time.

5. Results and discussion of re-bar

corrosion simulation experiment
5.1 Results of re-bar corrosion simulation experiment
(1) Processing and material properties
Table 6 and Table 7 show the material properties observed in the re-bar corrosion simulation experiment.
Table 6 indicates the fresh properties of ECC and PCM
after mixing, which are very similar between ECC and
PCM in this study. The high air contents of 20% shown in
Table 6 decreased to 5-10% after spraying for both materials. In specimen molding, both materials are processed with no problem. Table 7 lists the mechanical
property after hardening. While the two materials differ
little in compressive strength, ECC shows significantly
higher performance than PCM in terms of tensile
strength and strain capacity. This difference is clearly
demonstrated in Fig. 12, which shows the stress-strain
curves obtained through the tensile test. In this figure,
PCM behaves elastically and shows brittle failure contrary to PSH behavior of ECC. This difference appears to
affect the anti-spalling performance of the two materials.
(2) Results of anti-spalling test
Figure 13 shows the relationship between load and pin
displacement obtained in the anti-spalling tests. Figures
13 (a) and (b) show that the load increases almost linearly in the initial portion in both ECC and PCM. Then
both materials experience sudden stiffness degradation,
which indicates first cracking nucleation. Table 8 shows

278

T. Kanda, T. Saito, N. Sakata and M. Hiraishi / Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology Vol. 1, No. 3, 269-282, 2003

Table 7 Mechanical property in re-bar corrosion

simulation experiment.

Elastic
modulus

Tensile
Strength

(MPa)

(MPa)

(MPa)

59
53

20.9
25.9

ECC
PCM

5.8
3.74

Tensile
ultimate
strain
capacity
(%)
4.4
0.016

Tensile stress (MPa)

Mix

Comp.
Strength

10
8
6
4
Failure point

ECC

PCM
0
0

First cracking point

ECC #1

5
Load (kN)

Load (kN)

Contrary to the pre-cracking state, post-cracking behavior is substantially distinct between ECC and PCM
as indicated in Figs. 13 (a) and (b). In Fig. 13 (a), ECC
can still sustain load in a ductile manner while PCM

5
4
ECC #3

3
2

ECC #2

1
0

Fig. 12 omparison of tensile performance between ECC

and PCM.

First cracking point

Tensile strain (%)

a performance comparison between ECC and PCM for

this first cracking point. In this table, pin displacement
and load at first cracking are not significantly different in
both materials. Table 8 also shows COD immediately
after first cracking, and this number for ECC is approximately half the value for PCM. This appears due to
the fiber bridging effect in ECC. However, overall, performance at first cracking is not remarkably different
between ECC and PCM.

4
PCM #2
PCM #3

3
2

PCM #1

10

20
30
40
50
Pin disp. (mm)

60

10

(a) ECC

20
30
40
50
Pin disp. (mm)

60

(b) PCM

Fig. 13 Load-displacement performance in anti-spalling test.

1.5
ECC #3

ECC #2

0.5
ECC #1
0

10

20
30
40
50
Pin disp. (mm)
(a) ECC

60

COD of first crack (mm)

COD of first crack (mm)

1.5

PCM #3

PCM #1

PCM #2

0.5

10

20
30
40
50
Pin disp. (mm)
(b) PCM

Fig. 14 First Crack COD development in anti-spalling test.

60

T. Kanda, T. Saito, N. Sakata and M. Hiraishi / Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology Vol. 1, No. 3, 269-282, 2003

Table 8 Performance at first cracking in anti-spalling test.

Specimen
AverPerf.
Mix
age
#1
#2
#3
Pin

ECC

3.21

3.26

3.24

3.24

disp.

PCM

3.71

3.39

3.74

3.61

Load

ECC

6.45

5.05

5.43

5.65

(mm)
(kN)

PCM

6.11

5.40

6.57

COD

ECC

0.034

0.024

0.049

0.036

(mm)

PCM

0.078

0.073

0.050

0.067

6.03

quickly loses load bearing capacity, as shown in Fig. 13

(b). This implies that ECC maintains substantial resistance ability against re-bar cover spalling in R/C members in case of significant re-bar corrosion progress.
Figures 14 (a) and (b) suggest COD development in
first cracking, based on microscope image analysis. In
Fig. 14 (a), first crack COD of ECC is significantly restricted compared with PCM in Fig. 14 (b). While PCM
develops 0.5 to 1 mm of COD upon reaching pin displacement of 10 mm, ECC limits COD to less than 0.3
mm for the same pin displacement range. This COD
limiting performance of ECC appears beneficial to life
time elongation of R/C members as discussed in the
following section. COD limiting performance is further
illustrated in Fig. 15. This figure shows the crack location and COD development derived from crack gauge
measurement in anti-spalling tests. Figure 15 (a), (b),
and (c) show ECC develops multiple cracking in more
than three locations unlike PCM, which develops one or
two cracks as shown in Fig. 15 (d), (e), and (f). This
difference in the number of cracks relates to COD of
individual cracks. Excepting one crack, ECC limits
COD to less than approximately 0.2 mm even in large
pin-displacement of 15 mm while PCM develops COD
close to 1 mm for the same displacement range.
5.2 Interpretation of anti-spalling test results
Re-bar corrosion is typically observed as a result of
chloride induction such as in a marine environment, and
anti-spalling test results are discussed with regard to the
durability of R/C members in this harsh environment. In
chloride induced damage, crack nucleation in cover
concrete due to re-bar corrosion (hereafter, corrosion
crack) causes further acceleration of corrosion and deteriorates structural performance in R/C members. Hence
corrosion cracks have to be prevented and the initiation
of corrosion cracks may be considered as the end of a
members service life.
Recent research advances have made it possible to
predict corrosion crack formation in terms of corrosion
evolution in re-bar, utilizing non-linear FEM analysis, in
which the corrosion expansion of re-bar in R/C members is modeled (Suda et al. 1992, Kimura et al. 1996,
and Hamada et al. 1997). Such research typically mod-

279

els concrete cover with re-bar, which bears forced displacement u simulating the corrosion expansion of
steel, as shown in Fig. 16. The specific value of displacement uc as corrosion cracking occurs is taken to be
0.01 to 0.02 mm in these references while being affected
by various parameters such as the elastic modulus of
concrete and the cover thickness. This uc corresponds to
pin displacement of 0.5 to 1 mm for a pin taper angle of
1/50 as adopted in this study. In summary, a re-bar
diameter change of 0.01 to 0.02 mm due to corrosion
may imply service life termination in R/C members
caused by chloride induction, and this corresponds to
0.5 to 1 mm of pin displacement in anti-spalling tests.
The data in anti-spalling tests were interpreted in relation with the above service life termination. Table 8
suggests corrosion cracking in ECC or PCM occurs at a
pin displacement of approximately 3.5 mm, which is
larger than the above estimated value of 0.5 to 1 mm for
concrete. Hence ECC and PCM appear to have cracks at
larger pin displacement. This suggests that R/C members retrofitted with these materials may be less vulnerable to corrosion cracking than normal concrete, and
thus capable of a longer service life in heavy chloride
environment. This may be a reasonable assumption
since the tensile strengths of these materials shown in
Table 7 are larger than normal concrete (generally with
less than 3 MPa of tensile strength), and this higher tensile strength may lead to higher resistance against corrosion cracks.
ECCs characteristics are more remarkable after corrosion crack nucleation and may further extend service
life. Figure 13 shows that PCM loses load bearing ability immediately after first cracking in anti-spalling tests,
thus liable to suffer from cover spalling at this termination of service life. On the contrary, ECC can still bear
large loads similar to corrosion crack formation and still
be free from this spalling risk. Furthermore, ECCs
COD restriction ability may prolong service life as it
slows the corrosion rate. This expectation arises because
smaller COD restricts the invasion of harmful substances dissolved in water. It has been reported that water ingress flow into cracks proportional to the third
power of COD (Tukamoto 1990), and lower COD development in ECC cover appear to decrease the amount
of harmful substances reaching re-bar. This expectation
should be experimentally clarified in later studies.

6. Conclusions
This study aimed at achieving direct sprayed ECC and
demonstrating substantial potential of this newly developed material for retrofit construction. First, the material
composition of sprayed ECC was preliminarily discussed
by means of micromechanics based design theory. The
mix proportions were then fine-tuned considering the
mechanical properties required for retrofitting purposes.
These mechanical properties include anti-spalling performance simulating reinforcing steel bars corroded in

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T. Kanda, T. Saito, N. Sakata and M. Hiraishi / Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology Vol. 1, No. 3, 269-282, 2003

0.8
COD (mm)

0.4

ECC #1

15.6

13.0

10.0

7.5

Pin disp. (mm)

5.0

3.4

0.0

0.4
0.2

Crack

location

0.0
Pin disp.
(mm)

7.5

0.2

0.6

10.0

0.6

5.0

0.8
COD (mm)

1.0

3.9

1.0

Crack
location

dPCM #

1.0
1.0

0.6

0.8

COD (mm)

0.4
0.2

0.6

0.4
0.2

0.0

Pin disp.
(mm)

ePCM #

ECC #2

1.0
0.8
COD (mm)

0.2

15.0

12.5

10.0

Pin disp. (mm)

7.5

5.0

3.5

0.0

Crack
location

(c) ECC #3

0.4
0.2
0.0

Pin disp. (mm)

fPCM #

17.5

0.4

0.6

3.9
5.0
7.5

0.6

15.0

0.8
COD (mm)

10.0
12.5

1.0

Crack
location

10.0

Crack
location

7.5

15.0

Pin disp. (mm)

12.5

10.0

7.5

5.0

3.4

0.0

3.0

5.0

COD (mm)

0.8

Crack
location

Fig. 15 Crack profile in anti-spalling test.

structural elements as well as basic tensile or flexural

mechanical characteristics. As a result of these investigations, the following findings were arrived at.
1) The preliminary material design procedure adopted
in this study based on micromechanical theory appears
reasonable even for sprayed ECC while being originally

validated only with traditionally cast ECC.

2) The sprayed ECC was successfully processed and
achieved comparable mechanical properties to those of
traditionally cast ECC, which appears to be the first
example showing clear pseudo-strain hardening behavior via the wet type spraying process. These sprayed

T. Kanda, T. Saito, N. Sakata and M. Hiraishi / Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology Vol. 1, No. 3, 269-282, 2003

Corrosion

281

u
pave

re-bar

u
Concrete

pave

Fig. 16 Typical modeling of corrosion crack (after Suda et. al 1992).

ECCs showed similar tensile and flexural properties

independent of cement type and air content level after
the mixing adopted in this study. This was the case even
using an ordinary concrete mixer instead of an
omni-mixer.
3) Considering both the test data and actual construction process, where 10 mm thickness layers are accumulated, tensile or flexural tests using specimens directly sprayed with a number of 10-mm thick layers on
a mold appear adequate for evaluating material performance, rather than using cut-out specimens derived
from massive elements.
4) ECCs ability to restrict crack opening displacement was shown to be remarkable using anti-spalling
tests designed to reproduce re-bar volume expansion
due to corrosion and subsequent cracking and spalling
of the cover concrete of R/C members. The results of
this test showed ECC has significant anti-cracking and
anti-spalling ability compared with conventional cement
materials. These results imply that ECC is less vulnerable to corrosion crack nucleation and subsequent COD
development than traditional cement materials, and thus
have a large potential for prolonging the service life of
retrofitted members.
The above findings suggest a very unique and substantial potential of sprayed ECC as a retrofit material
that can contribute to realizing higher durability and
longer service life in retrofitted elements than normal
R/C members. This potential is to be more directly
clarified in larger scale tests as part of further studies.
Acknowledgement
Futase-yogyo Co. and Showa-light Co. are greatly acknowledged for their assistance regarding material supply and spraying operation, respectively.

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