Composite Structures 171 (2017) 317–325

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Composite Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Fibre reinforced concrete with a combination of polyolefin and

steel-hooked fibres
M.G. Alberti, A. Enfedaque, J.C. Gálvez ⇑
Departamento de Ingeniería Civil: Construcción, E.T.S de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C / Profesor Aranguren, s/n,
28040 Madrid, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Self-compacting polyolefin fibre reinforced concrete has shown high performance in both fresh and hard-
Received 1 November 2016 ened state. Post-cracking behaviour provides significant residual strengths especially for large deforma-
Revised 2 February 2017 tions. For small deformations, flexural residual strength could be enhanced with a small amount of steel-
Accepted 8 March 2017
hooked fibres, obtaining a hybrid fibre-reinforced concrete well suited for structural use. Four types of
Available online 14 March 2017
conventional fibre-reinforced concrete with steel and polyolefin fibres were produced on the basis of
the same self-compacting concrete also manufactured as reference. These concrete mixtures were man-
Keywords:
ufactured separately with the same fibre contents being subsequently used for two more hybrid mix-
Hybrid fibre-reinforced concrete
Polyolefin fibre-reinforced concrete
tures. Flexural and uniaxial fracture tests were performed in addition to the assessment of fresh and
Steel fibre-reinforced concrete mechanical properties. The research showed both synergies (with the two types of fibres working
Self-compacting concrete and fracture together in the fracture processes) and an improvement of the orientation and distribution of the fibres
on the fracture surface.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The mechanical properties of concrete have been thoroughly
studied in the last century due to the profuse use of this material
in the construction industry. High stiffness and good compressive
strength, together with a reduced cost, have been the concrete
main virtues that have made of it the most common construction
material up to now. However, there are some other inherent char-
acteristics of concrete that may be interesting to improve: tensile
strength and ductility. This issue has been traditionally solved add-
ing small amounts of short fibres during mixing [1–3]. There has
been a wide diversity of materials used for this purpose: steel,
palm, glass, carbon, or polypropylene, among others [4–6]. With
some of these materials, steel and some polymers, there is such
an increment of the mechanical properties that the contribution
of the fibres may be taken into account in the structural design
[7,8] forming a new type of composite material.
Among the fibres used, the most common are made of steel due
to their high modulus of elasticity and tensile strength. Concrete
reinforced with steel fibres has been widely employed in the build-
ing industry for some time in applications such as industrial and
airport pavements, reinforcement of projected concrete, and pre-
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jaime.galvez@upm.es (J.C. Gálvez).
cast elements with reduced thickness, among others [9]. These
uses have been based on extensive studies of the mechanical beha-
viour of this type of concrete under tensile stresses, fatigue or even
impact [10–12]. Such studies have shown the outstanding fracture
properties that steel fibres provide for low strain states. Neverthe-
less the proximity of the steel fibres to the free surface of the con-
crete piece might reduce the life span of the structure due to the
corrosion of the fibres, especially in aggressive environments, such
as CO2 or chloride atmospheras.
The newly developed polymeric fibres with enhanced mechan-
ical properties have opened the field to new applications where the
corrosion of steel fibres might be an issue. The suitability of this
type of fibres for its use in concrete has been proved in different
studies [6,13] and practical uses [14,15]. The aforementioned stud-
ies showed the aptitude of the polymeric fibres to withstand large
deformations providing high ductility. However, the polyolefin
fibres are not able to borne high loads at small deformations prob-
ably due to its low modulus of elasticity and the frictional adhesion
with matrix [16].
The last tendencies in the construction industry are to develop
tailor-made concretes that suit the mechanical and durability
requirements of the structure. In that field the use of cocktails of
fibres in concrete have been one of the main improvements.
Combinations of steel fibres with different sizes have been studied
analysing its mechanical properties and anisotropy [17–20].

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2017.03.033
0263-8223/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
318 M.G. Alberti et al. / Composite Structures 171 (2017) 317–325
In addition, fibres of different materials, steel and polypropylene,
have been also added to concrete obtaining satisfactory results.
In any of the aforementioned studies the steel fibres were respon-
sible of the improvement of the mechanical properties of concrete.
Following this rationale, and aiming to obtain a high-
performance concrete when subjected to tensile and flexural stres-
ses, a combination of structural polymeric fibres and steel fibres
have been added to a self-compacting concrete. Whereas the pres-
ence of steel fibres would improve the behaviour of concrete when
fracturing under low strain states, the addition of polyolefin fibres
would enhance the high strain behaviour in such process. Taking
advantage of these two types of fibres it would be possible to
obtain a material not only with outstanding compressive beha-
viour but also with higher tensile strength and ductility. Moreover,
the addition of these types of fibres to a self-compacting concrete
might enhance the distribution and positioning of fibres due to the
effect of the flux, as has been previously shown for other types of
fibres [21,22], improving the mechanical properties of concrete
up to new limits.
In a previous study it was shown that a combination of steel and
polyolefin fibres when added to a self-compacting concrete
improved the fresh state behaviour of concrete adding lower
amounts of fibres in terms of weight [3]. Regarding the mechanical
properties of this type of concrete its fracture behaviour was
assessed following the recommendation RILEM TC-187 SOC [23].
The results obtained showed a noticeable increment of the
mechanical properties of concrete that might enable to reduce or
eliminate the traditional reinforcement steel bars.
To take advantage of all the benefits that this cocktail of fibres
provides to the concrete is of key importance to know in depth
not only the flexural behaviour, assessed by the fracture tests,
but also to analyse its tensile behaviour. In this paper uni-axial
tests are performed to characterise the tensile behaviour of a
self-compacting concrete reinforced with a combination of
hooked-end steel fibres and structural embossed polyolefin fibres.
The samples tested were obtained from the halves remaining from
flexural fracture tests previously performed [3]. The results com-
pleted the previously obtained fracture results providing a clearer
view of the mechanical behaviour of the material that could not be
derived from the fracture tests. In addition, the fracture surfaces
have been analysed by a counting procedure and related to the
mechanical behaviour. These two aspects provide capital informa-
tion that enable structural designers to take full advantage of the
improvements that each type of fibre offer to the behaviour of
concrete.
Table 1
The physical and mechanical properties of fibres.
Fibre type Density (g/cm3) Length (mm) Eq. Diameter (mm)
Polyolefin 0.910 60 0.903
Steel-hooked 7.850 35 0.550
Fig. 1. Appearance of the fibres (scale in mm): (a) polyolefin fibres; (b) steel-hooked fibres.
2. Materials and mix proportioning
2.1. Materials
For the concrete production Portland cement type EN 197-1
CEM I 52.5 R-SR 5 was selected and mineral admixture of lime-
stone was used as a micro-aggregate with a specific gravity and
Blaine surface of 2700 kg/m3 and 400–450 m2/kg respectively.
The calcium carbonate content of the limestone powder was higher
than 98% and less than 0.05% was retained by the 45 lm sieve. A
polycarboxylate based superplasticizer named Sika Viscocrete
5720 with a solid content of 36% and 1090 kg/m3 density was
employed. As regards the aggregates, the mixtures were made with
siliceous aggregates composed of two types of gravel 4–8 mm and
4–12 mm and sand 0–2 mm. The maximum aggregate size was
12.7 mm.
Two types of fibres were used: steel-hooked fibres with a
smooth surface and 35 mm long, and polyolefin straight fibres with
a rough surface and surface treatment and 60 mm long. Table 1
compares the main characteristics of the types of fibre, their mate-
rial properties and their geometrical patterns. The appearance of
both types of fibres is shown in Fig. 1.
2.2. Mix proportioning and concrete production
The starting point to perform the concrete mix proportions was
to achieve a mixture with moderate cement content able to reach
the self-compacting fresh properties required even with the addi-
tion of the two types of fibre. In order to do so, a plain SCC with
a slump-flow spread target of 650 mm containing 375 kg/m3 of
cement, and with a water-to-cement ratio of 0.50, was previously
designed. To obtain the required fresh properties, 1.25% of cement
weight of superplasticizer was needed. The optimum distribution
of the aggregates was taken as the maximum dry packing density
obtained according to the ASTM C29/29M-09. Thus, the optimum
aggregate skeleton was taken as 24%, 16% and 60% of gravel, grit
and sand respectively. Aggregates humidity was corrected in the
first step of the mixing process.
One plain concrete was manufactured in order to compare the
influence of adding fibres and was named REF. To obtain a reason-
able value of hybrid fibre proportions added to a SCC, values in the
lower part of the range of their use were chosen for the steel fibres.
However, regarding the polyolefin fibre contents a medium
amount was employed to reach as high a number of fibres as pos-
sible in the hybrid concretes. All are summarized in Table 2.
Tensile Modulus of Fibers per kg Surface Anchorage
strength (MPa) elasticity (GPa) structure
>500 >9 27000 Embossed Bond
1100 210 14500 Smooth Hooked
 M.G. Alberti et al. / Composite Structures 171 (2017) 317–325 319

Table 2 specimens were cured in a climatic chamber (20 °C and 95%

Mix proportions. humidity) until the age of testing.
REF P4.5 S26 H1
3
Cement (kg/m ) 375 375 375 375
Limestone powder (kg/m3) 200 200 200 200 3. Tests program and results
Superplasticizer 1.25% (CEM) 1.25% (CEM) 1.25% (CEM) 1.25%
(CEM) 3.1. Assessment of fresh state concrete properties
Water (kg/m3) 187.5 187.5 187.5 187.5
Sand (kg/m3) 918 918 918 918
Grit (kg/m3) 245 245 245 245 In order to characterise and compare the fresh state behaviour
Gravel (kg/m3) 367 367 367 367 of every concrete type, two tests were performed. The slump-
Polyolefin fibres (kg/m3) – 4.5 – 4.5 flow test described in the standard EN: 12350-8 [24] and the
3
Steel fibres (kg/m ) – – 26 26
V-funnel test in the standard EN: 12350-9 [25]. The results of both
tests for every concrete type are shown in Table 3. It is worth not-
ing that concrete production was made in two batches of each con-
Hence, a volume fraction of fibres of 0.49% was chosen to per- crete type, remarkably close results and showing negligible
form one mixture of polyolefin fibres separately. In that of poly- variations being obtained.
olefin fibres, that volume fraction was in terms of weight 4.5 kg/ It should be noted that all the results for REF and monotype FRC
m3, that mix was termed P4.5. For the SFRC, the volume fraction were among the limits of the most common standards which set a
of 0.33% was used in order to obtain a result in the lower part of slump-flow spread (df) from 550 mm to 850 mm, a time for the
the range of their use. In terms of weight, this was equivalent to slump-flow patty to reach 500 mm of diameter (T500) lower than
adding 25.88 kg/m3 of fibres. This mix was named S26. 8 s, and an emptying time of the V-funnel between four and 25 s
The hybrid fibre proportions added to the mix were chosen with [26].
the aim of achieving an improved polyolefin fibre reinforced con- The slump-flow spread mean diameters displayed a reduction,
crete (PFRC) with a small quantity of steel fibres. In that sense, as expected and shown in Refs. [17] or [20], with the addition of
the smaller fraction volume explained above of 0.33% was chosen fibres when compared with the results of plain concrete REF. As
to evaluate the synergies when a fibre cocktail with a 0.49% volume also anticipated in Ref. [6], steel fibres had more influence on the
fraction of polyolefin fibres were added. This hybrid mixture was flow properties with significant reduction of the diameter of the
called H1, with a total fibre volume fraction of 0.82% having a total patty. Times obtained for T500 remained at similar values for all
addition of 30.5 kg/m3 of fibres. the concrete types. In Fig. 2 the slump-flow spread of the hybrid
Based on the plain SCC mix design used as reference (REF), the mixture H1 is portrayed to highlight the uniform distribution of
three FRC mixtures were manufactured. In addition to the men- fibres and the aggregates on the spread and also with no segrega-
tioned REF, FRC mixtures S26 and P4.5 were performed with only tion signs.
one type of fibres. Hybrid FRC mix H1 completed the research, as As regards the V-funnel test results, it is important to mention
was previously stated, and is shown in Table 2. All were manufac- that the hybrid mixture had significantly higher fibre proportions
tured with a vertical axis concrete-mixer with 100 l of capacity. which led to higher emptying times being obtained. Given that
Nine cylindrical specimens with a diameter of 150 mm and height the test measures the fluidity and passing capacity, fibre addition
of 300 mm, and three prismatic specimens of dimension increased the emptying times as the volume fraction rose. How-
430
100
100 mm3, were produced for each mixture. All the ever, the values obtained were within the optimum values.

Table 3
Fresh state and mechanical test results.

Slump flow test V-funnel Mechanical properties

df (mm) T500 (s) t (s) fck (MPa) c.v. E(GPa) fct (MPa) c.v.
REF 655 3.5 8 39.0 0.01 35.8 3.78 0.14
S26 570 3.5 10 41.7 0.01 33.7 5.32 0.15
P4.5 600 3.5 11 38.5 0.06 31.2 4.18 0.20
H1 565 4.0 14 36.5 0.03 33.0 5.41 0.04

Fig. 2. Visual appearance of the slump-flow spread of H1.

320 M.G. Alberti et al. / Composite Structures 171 (2017) 317–325
3.2. Assessment of mechanical properties
In order to obtain and compare the mechanical properties, the
compressive strength, tensile splitting strength and modulus of
elasticity were measured in accordance with the standards EN
12390-3 [27], EN 12390-6 [28] and EN 12390-13 [29]. Three cylin-
drical specimens of each concrete type were tested for obtaining
the compressive strength and tensile splitting strength. Modulus
of elasticity was determined in one cylindrical specimen of each
mixture. Table 3 shows the mean values and the coefficient of vari-
ation of the results. In Fig. 3, the mechanical properties variation of
each FRC on the basis of the plain REF mixture is performed.
As it can be observed Fig. 3 and Table 3 there were no major dif-
ferences among the all the concrete mixes in compressive strength
and modulus of elasticity. Fibre addition increased indirect tensile
strength in all concretes. For REF mixture the tensile strength
obtained was in the order of magnitude expected [6,13,30]. The
best performance was obtained with the steel fibres, which was
probably due to the anchorage of the fibres and the higher modu-
lus of elasticity of the material itself. Moreover, the addition of
polyolefin fibre also increased, although moderately, the tensile
strength. It is worth noting that the results of compressive strength
with the combination of the two types of fibres, H1, were analo-
gous to those with higher volume fractions provided in the litera-
160%
fck (MPa)
E (GPa)
140%
fct(MPa)
120%
100
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
REF S26 P4.5 H1
Fig. 3. Mechanical properties comparison.
Fig. 4. Fracture test results: average curve of three specimens of each concrete type.
ture [6,13]. That is to say, the slight decrease in compressive
strength may have been due to the worse compaction of the spec-
imens with higher amounts of fibres. Regarding the elasticity mod-
ulus, there was no clear trend with slight decreases for all the
specimens of FRC. As regards indirect tensile strength, remarkable
increases were found for H1 in a proportional trend to the com-
bined action of S26 and P4.5. In any case, the Brazilian test is argu-
ably not the most appropriate test available to determine the
tensile strength of FRC.
3.3. Flexural tensile strength
In accordance with RILEM TC-187-SOC [23] three-point bending
tests were carried out in three prismatic specimens of each con-
crete type with dimensions 430
100
100 mm3. The geometry
was set based on the depth (D) of the sample, which was
100 mm. Thus, span was chosen as three times the depth and the
notch height as one third of the depth in the center of the span.
The test procedure and the details of the method employed can
be consulted in Ref. [3].
It is worth noting that the especially meticulous manufacturing
processes, being of key importance in this study, in addition to the
accuracy of the equipment and measuring devices, permitted the
reduction of the scatter. The specimen positioning was carefully
made by means of laser devices. The notch was machined with a
water-cooled low-speed diamond cutting disc. The concrete beams
rested on two rigid steel cylinders laid on two ground supports,
which allowed free rotation out of the plane of the beam and guar-
anteed negligible friction rolling in the longitudinal direction of the
beam. Thus, the results of the fracture tests on three beams showed
a remarkably low degree of scatter. The latter is also supported by
the previous works given in Refs. [6,13]. The coefficient of variation
of the fracture curve of H1 mixture was on average of the turning
points 0.08.
In Fig. 4 the mean load-deflection curves of all the mixtures
manufactured can be observed. In addition, the post-peak beha-
viour of the algebraic addition of the mixes S26 and P4.5 can be
observed. This curve appears as P4.5 + S26. As can be clearly
ascertained the hybrid concrete behaviour improves the fracture
behaviour of the theoretical mix P4.5 + S26. Therefore there is a
synergetic effect when steel and polyolefin fibres are employed
in the same mixture. In order to compare the results with the
requirements of the codes, it is worth noting that the specimen size
considered in the standards [7,8] is 550
150
150 mm (length-
height-width) and the dimensions of the specimens tested in this
research were 430
100
100 mm. This issue was addressed in
Ref. [6] and considered that stress values corresponding to crack
 M.G. Alberti et al. / Composite Structures 171 (2017) 317–325
mouth opening displacements of 0.5 and 2.5 mm represented
greater deformations in a smaller specimen as the geometric rela-
tion for the same rotation angle of the cracked cross section is
linked to the values of height. That is to say, the value of CMOD
0.5 mm in a specimen with a height of 150 mm would correspond
to a value of 0.333 mm in one with a 100 mm height if the same
deformation were compared. The reference found that making
such a conversion when using PFRC may not always be on the con-
servative side. In addition and given that strength values increase
up to significantly higher deformations above the standards
requirements, it is possible to take the same deformation values.
Furthermore, when the two sizes were compared in Ref. [32] it
was found that the position for the turning points of the curve
was remarkably close. Hence, it might be concluded that the resid-
ual strengths of the mixture H1 met the requirements of the stan-
dards and therefore the contribution of the fibres can be taken into
account in the structural design. The latter allows to reduce or even
to eliminate the amount of steel bars used as reinforcement.
In order to study the improvements with the combination of
fibres, the fracture surfaces of all the concretes were analysed
and the results are shown in Table 4. Specimens with only poly-
olefin fibres showed lower orientation factor, and some were
curved or folded. Besides, the distribution was not uniform on
the fracture surface and contrary to what took place in the fracture
surfaces with only steel fibres. Nonetheless, when hybrid FRC frac-
ture surfaces were examined the orientation factor of both types of
fibres was increased leading to a better performance and higher
than the sum of each individual contribution.
The theoretical number of fibres (th) placed in the fracture sur-
face was obtained for each concrete considering that the fibres
were uniformly distributed and perpendicular to the crack. The
average total number of fibres obtained from the counting exercise
and its coefficient of variation (c.v.) is shown in Table 4. Further-
more, the relation between the fibres counted in a given cross-
section (n) and theoretical number of fibres (th) are shown in
Table 4. This relation h is the so-called ‘‘orientation factor” or ‘‘fibre
efficiency factor” that assumes a homogeneous distribution of
fibres in the section [31] and which may be computed with expres-
sion (1). It should be noted that the orientation factor was expected
Table 4
Number of fibres on the fracture surface: average values and coefficient of variation
(c.v.) of three specimens of each concrete type.
Concrete # # average c.v. (%)
theoretical total
SF PF SF PF SF PF
S26 139 – 94 – 14% – 0.68
P45 – 74 – 45 – 13%
H1 139 74 104 47 4% 7%
Fig. 5. Sketch of the preparation and size of the specimens used for the tensile tests.
321
to be high, given the use of self-compacting concrete and use of
60 mm long polyolefin fibres with moulds of size 100 mm
[32,33]. These effects would imply increases in the residual
strengths of about 20%, as shown in Ref. [34]. Regarding the use
of SCC, previous research showed that when using PFRC the orien-
tation factor may be increased by another 10% [35,36]. In any
event, it should be clarified that such influences would affect to
an equal extent the mixtures with only one fibre type and the mix-
ture with the combination of the two fibre types.
n Af
h¼ ¼n ð1Þ
th Vf A
Regarding the distribution of fibres along the specimen, the
coefficient of variation showed less scattering in the distribution
of the steel fibres. The SCC flow showed good performance in
spreading evenly the metallic rigid fibres. The use of a combination
of steel and polyolefin fibres led to a sound improvement in terms
of scatter when compared with the mixes manufactured only with
polyolefin fibres. The lowest dispersion was found for the H1 mix-
ture with coefficients of variation of 4% and 7% for steel and poly-
olefin fibre respectively. The values obtained for h were remarkably
higher for hybrid mixtures, as can be seen when comparing H1
with S26 and P4.5.
3.4. Uniaxial tensile strength
The uniaxial tension test as described in RILEM TC 162-TDF [37]
can be used to determine the tensile strength and the softening
parameters defining the r–w curve in FRC. The test uses a notched
cylindrical specimen with both ends fixed with respect to rotation.
It is conducted under controlled tensile displacements. The results
of these tests provide significant information but the setup is
rather complex and demands highly trained and experienced per-
sonnel. Therefore, the uniaxial tension test is quite expensive and
time consuming, and are only adequate for research purposes in
specialised laboratories. In the case of the present study, these
tests were performed in order to clarify the performance of the
combination of fibres under tension beyond the conventional flex-
ural tests. In such a sense, the possibility of testing under uniaxial
stresses one of the halves of each sample, allowed comparing flex-
ural and tensile results. This idea can be better understood observ-
ing Fig. 5. Two specimens of each type of concrete were prepared
and tested.
h Moreover, there was one more reason that justified designing
and developing new tests for the prismatic specimens already
SF PF tested on fracture. That is to say that if some synergy effects were
– found in residual flexural strengths [3] it was of key importance to
– 0.61 determine if such effect were observed due to the existence of a
0.75 0.63
noticeable wall effect. Hence, the depth of the notch of the uniaxial
322 M.G. Alberti et al. / Composite Structures 171 (2017) 317–325

tensile effectively removes the wall effect of the fibre and allows an
improved discussion of the results. Since fibre positioning was
assessed for the fracture surfaces, the comparison of a new fibre
counting performed permits sounder conclusions. In this areas in
the concrete bulk distribution of fibres are barely affected by the
presence of boundaries [38].
Consequently, the final shape of the specimens for the uniaxial
tensile tests was prismatic of size 185
100
100 mm3. The notch
depth was 20 mm in each face in order to remove most of the wall
effect and leave a representative surface remaining. The sketch of
the specimen size can be seen in Fig. 6. Moreover, in order to assure
that rotations were limited during the tests, all the faces were eve-
ned by means of a water refrigerated grinder. The latter produced a
perfect prismatic shape with parallel and orthogonal faces reduc-
ing scatter and non-desired effects during the fracture processes
and to obtain a reduced degree of scattering in the same sense as
explained for the flexural tests. With this preparation, two speci-
mens of each concrete type were tested.
The test was conducted by displacing the actuator of the
machine. The test set-up, as sketched in Fig. 7, needed two CMOD
devices similar to those used for flexural tests. These devices were
placed in opposite positions of the specimens. The tests were car-
ried out with a displacement rate of 0.005 mm/min. The two bases
of the specimens were pasted to steel caps with resin which
needed 24 h of curing time. The upper cap was linked to the grip
of the machine by threaded stainless steel bar. A hinge was placed
in such upper part to avoid any lack of parallelism. The lower cap
was linked by a stainless steel bar threaded in the upper half and
with a soft surface in the lower half. This lower half of the piece
was designed to be introduced in a hollow cylinder being both

Fig. 6. Uniaxial tests specimens.

Fig. 7. Configuration of the uniaxial tests.

 M.G. Alberti et al. / Composite Structures 171 (2017) 317–325 323

drilled in order to pass a bolt after the placement of the specimen.
This permitted the thread of the piece in the upper grip. Once it
was done, the lower part of the piece having the hollow cylinder
was also threaded to the grip and fixed to it with the bolt and
two lateral nuts. The last piece of the design was a bigger nut that
was threaded to the external surface of the hollow cylinder not
allowing rotations. All these pieces and procedures can be better
understood observing Fig. 7.
The results of the uniaxial tests were satisfactory in terms of the
designed procedure without non-desired effects or rotations before
the limit of proportionality. Slight rotations could be seen in the
initial post-cracking processes, though, they did not influence the
results as the crack growth in the two sides was extremely close
and therefore the stresses were aligned producing fracture under
tension. In Fig. 8 the mean of two tests is shown in any of the
mixes. If Fig. 8 is observed, it can be seen that the results had
noticeable differences among the two types of fibres used individ-
ually. Since steel-hooked fibres have higher modulus of elasticity
and they are anchored to the matrix by the hooks, the initial resid-
ual strength and the recovery of strength are significant. However,
it is possible to observe that with only 4.5 kg/m3 of polyolefin
fibres, their residual contribution surpasses that of steel fibres for
crack openings around 1.75 mm. If the two residual actions were
added (algebraic sum) it can also be seen that the results of the
mixture H1 surpasses such addition. That is to say that the synergy
effect could also be observed even though the wall effect was prac-
tically null. This allows concluding that the synergy effect between
Uniaxial tensile tests
12
H1
10 P4.5
S26
8
Algebraic sum
Load (kN)
the two types of fibres occurred due to the interaction between
them and the flux of self-compacting concrete and that it was
not a collateral effect of the size or machining of the samples.
In order to analyse such synergy between the two types of
fibres, the latter that appeared in the fracture surfaces were also
counted and analysed being the average results those placed in
Table 5. As expected, the steel fibres did not reach its maximum
tensile strength and hence no one was found broken. Conversely,
most of the polyolefin fibres were broken although a significant
percentage was pulled-out. In any event, more fibres were counted
in the mixture with the combination of them (H1). That is to say
that orientation was improved and therefore the results showed
the referred synergy. The coefficient of variation of the uniaxial
results increased up to 0.25 for the mixture H1. Although this could
be considered adequate in the field of FRC, the complexity of the
tests merits mention of the low degree of scattering.
4. Discussion
In Fig. 8 the load-CMOD curves registered values up to 2 mm,
which was considered the most interesting part, can be seen. At
that moment, no FRC specimens had collapsed. At least two tests
were performed for every concrete mixture showing a limited scat-
ter in all the mixes. The curves shown in Figs. 4 and 8 offer a clear
view of the effect of the fibres in the post-peak behaviour of a self-
compacting concrete. It is clear that the stiffness of the fibres have
a great influence in the unloading branch following the peak load.
It can be easily perceived that the stiffer the material the more pro-
nounced unloading process. This can be seen in the curves that cor-
respond to mixes S26 and P4.5. Similarly, the slope of mix H1 is
equal to the one registered for S26. Therefore, the presence of poly-
olefin fibres did not improve the behaviour of the unloading branch
of the hybrid mix.
In order to compare the mechanical characteristics of all the
mixes tested the fracture energy of each concrete was computed.
Similarly, the most relevant points of the curves obtained were
extracted and can be seen in Table 6. Two main turning points of
the curve shapes were also extracted (later discussed and shown

in Table 6). The peak load (lPEAK), defined as the first maximum load
before the softening post-cracking branch and the minimum post-
6
cracking load (lMIN), were extracted. In addition the maximum
post-peak load was also obtained (lREM).
The values of lPEAK shown in Table 6 do not show any particular
4 trend being the ones obtained in the mix P4.5 higher than the rest.
This phenomenon is expected as it is something that has been pre-
viously reported in three point bending tests. Regarding the values
2 of lMIN it is noticeable how the value obtained in the hybrid mix
surpasses the sum of S26 + P4.5 by more than 12%. Moreover, the
most noticeable effect is that not only the value of lMIN is increased
but also the CMOD where lMIN is reached is lower than in any of the
0
concretes reinforced with a single type of fibre. When lREM is anal-
0 0,25 0,5 0,75 1 1,25 1,5 1,75 2
ysed it is clear that the hybrid fibre reinforced concrete is able to
CMOD (mm) bear a maximum post peak load above the theoretical values
obtained in the algebraic sum. Not only are these two characteris-
Fig. 8. Uniaxial test result: average curves of two specimens of each concrete type.
tic points improved but also the fracture energy obtained up to a

Table 5
Number of fibres on the uniaxial fracture surfaces: average values of two specimens of each concrete type.

Mixture Fibre type Upper half Lower half Total c.v. (%)
Pulled-out Broken Pulled-out Broken
H1 Polyolefin 4 5 5 5 14 24%
Steel-hooked 15 0 16 0 31 23%
S26 Steel-hooked 12 0 13 0 25 17%
P4.5 Polyolefin 4 7 6 7 17 26%
324 M.G. Alberti et al. / Composite Structures 171 (2017) 317–325

Table 6
Significant points of the Load-CMOD curves and fracture energy.

lPEAK (kN) lMIN (kN) lREM (kN) lR1 (kN) lR3 (kN) Gf (N/m)
H1 10.25 5.56 54.24% 8.47 82.63% 7.93 77.37% 5.79 56.49% 4018
S26 8.76 2.52 28.77% 5.61 64.04% 5.59 63.81% 3.03 34.59% 1362
P4.5 10.56 1.43 13.54% 1.44 13.64% 1.54 14.58% 2.27 21.51% 2434

Fig. 9. Polyolefin concrete fracture surface.

Fig. 10. Hybrid concrete fracture surface.

CMOD opening of 2 mm is also enhanced. This is of key importance
because it is a significant increment in the toughness of the com-
posite material.
The fracture energy is obtained as the area under the uniaxial
fracture curves divided by the real fracture surface (the accuracy
in this terms has significant influence and therefore the surfaces
were measured after the tests). If the results, shown in the last col-
umn of Table 6, are analysed it can be concluded that in terms of
fracture energy up to 2 mm of crack opening, the synergy meant
an increase of 5.9%.
The aforementioned improvements of the mechanical beha-
viour of the hybrid concrete can be explained by means of an
analysis of the fracture surfaces and a counting exercise of the
fibres. In Figs. 9 and 10 it can be seen the fracture surfaces of
one P4.5 sample and one H1 sample respectively. Observing
Table 5 and Figs. 9 and 10 it is clear that not only the amount
of fibres is important but also its positioning and orientation.
According to Table 5 there are more polyolefin fibres in the frac-
ture surface of P4.5 and a similar number of steel fibres in the S26
samples than in the H1 sample. Therefore its mechanical beha-
viour, if only the amount of fibres is considered, should be better
in the P4.5 + S26 theoretical mix. However, the experimental
results did not showed this trend. The differences can be
explained when the orientation of the polyolefin fibres in Figs. 9
and 10 is compared. In Fig. 10 it can be clearly seen that the poly-
olefin fibres are oriented, as an average, in a normal disposition.
Nevertheless if Fig. 9 is observed in the fracture surface of P4.5
sample it can be perceived that there is a certain amount of poly-
olefin fibres that are folded or oriented in directions close to
being parallel to the fracture surface. Therefore the presence of
the steel fibres helps to align the polyolefin fibres normal to the
principal tensile stress improving consequently the behaviour of
the concrete above the theoretical values.
5. Conclusions
It is possible to produce a hybrid fibre reinforced
self-compacting concrete with a combination of hooked steel
fibres and macro polyolefin fibres, preserving the high perfor-
mance fresh properties within the most common self-compacting
requirements.
The fracture behaviour of all single and hybrid FRC under tensile
and fracture stresses was remarkably stable and, in the case of
flexural tests, met the structural requirements of the standards.
The fracture toughness and ductility, as well as residual
strength, were increased if compared with the same proportions
of fibres added separately and subsequently combined. Therefore
a synergy effect above the algebraic sum of the influence of the
fibres individually was assessed opening a large field of research
for future applications.
 M.G. Alberti et al. / Composite Structures 171 (2017) 317–325
This synergy in the fracture results led to a high-performance
concrete capable of bearing loads close to the peak-load for deflec-
tions of span/60. This improving effect was observed on the frac-
ture surface of the specimens that showed the same preferential
orientation for both types of fibres and an improved orientation
and distribution of the polyolefin fibres. In addition, this synergy
was found in both flexural and uniaxial fracture tests. Moreover,
the low degree of scatter found due the meticulous testing proce-
dures permit the conclusion that simultaneous use of these two
fibre types can be used to increase the properties of FRC.
The design of the uni-axial tests provided satisfactory results
without rotation problems that allowed localizing the synergy
effects using the two types of fibre under direct tension. In addi-
tion, it permitted extracting the sound conclusion that the best
performance of the combination of fibres was not linked to wall
effect and only to the interaction between steel and polyolefin
fibres set inside the flux of self-compacting concrete.
It should also be noted that the addition of fibres did not notice-
ably change the compressive strength, indirect tensile strength or
modulus of elasticity of a reference SCC for any of the amounts,
types or combination of fibres used.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support pro-
vided by Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of
Spain by means of the Research Fund Project BIA 2016-78742-
C2-2-R. They also offer their gratitude to SIKA SAU for supplying
the polyolefin fibers. Marcos García Alberti also wishes to express
his gratitude to SIKA SAU for the grant provided.
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