Fresh and hardened properties of 3D printable polymer-fibre-reinforced high-performance cementitious composite

Abstract

This research aims to develop 3D printed high-performance cementitious composite reinforced with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polypropylene (PP) fibres. Characteristics of fresh mortar are identified by conducting the rheological behaviour, flow factor, and green strength tests. Mechanical properties of 3D printed specimens under different curing conditions are also investigated in different printing directions, which are compared with those of cast specimens. The presence of fibre with relatively small volume fraction (0.2%) leads to a noticeable increase in yield stress, flow loss and green strength. For hardened cementious composite (CC), the influence of a small amount of PVA and PP fibre is not significant for both compressive and flexural strengths of printed samples. The results of the mechanical properties of cast and printed specimens at the hardened state could be further explained through the pore content measured by using X-ray micro-computed tomography.