Manufacturing and Mechanical Testing of a New Functionally Graded Fiber Reinforced Cement Composite

A functionally graded (FG) material system is employed to make fiber use more efficient in a fiber reinforced cement composite (FRCC). This preliminary study demonstrates beam elements that were functionally graded fiber reinforced cement composite (FGFRCC) with four layers, each with a different fiber volume ratio. Fiber volume ratio was graded in accordance with its potential contribution to the mechanical load-bearing capacity so as to reduce the overall fiber volume ratio while preserving the flexural strength and ductility of the beam. Extrusion was used to produce single homogeneous layers of constant fiber volume ratio. The FRCC layers with different fiber volume ratios were stacked according to a desired configuration and then pressed to make an integrated FGFRCC. Flexural tests were carried out to characterize the mechanical behavior, and the results were analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of the designed fiber distribution. Compared with homogeneous FRCC with the same overall fiber volume fraction, the FGFRCC exhibited about 50% higher strength and comparable ductility.