Investigating the durability of steel fiber reinforced concrete composite in sulfate and chloride environments

Concrete is an unprecedented porous and highly heterogeneous composite material. The durability of reinforced concrete with steel fibers in chloride and sulfate environments is of interest for engineers, infrastructure owners, maintainers, and researchers. Steel fibers and concrete matrices are bonded together through a weak bond, and the properties of this composite are largely due to the surface bonding of the fibers and the concrete matrix. Less permeability maintains the durability of the structure in contact with harmful substances such as chloride ions, sulfate ions and acids because it cannot easily penetrate In this paper, three types of steel fiber reinforced concrete (1, 1.5 and 2% steel fiber) were prepared and used in 3 environments, i.e. magnesium sulfate, sodium sulfate, and sodium chloride, for 6 and 12 months. Compressive strength, flexural strength, electrical resistance, water penetration, and rapid penetration of chloride were also examined. According to the results, the sample containing 2% steel fiber when exposed to acids showed more mechanical performance deterioration compared to the two other samples, i.e. 1% and 1.5% steel fiber.