Many concrete structures are required to have sufficient abrasion resistance, such as dams, canals, roads and floors. The abrasion resistance of concrete may be defined as its ability to resist being worn away by rubbing. Compressive strength and aggregate type are also important factors affecting the abrasive behaviour of concrete. However, very little information on the properties of haematit...

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomers are extensively used for soft lithographic replication of microstructures in microfluidic and micro-engineering applications. Elastomeric microstructures are commonly required to fulfil an explicit mechanical role and accordingly their mechanical properties can critically affect device performance. The mechanical properties of elastomers are known to vary ...

We present a borehole failure model which is based on fracture mechanics and layer buckling theories and compare its prediction with experimental data. The model assumes that the main mechanism of borehole collapse takes place in the form of layers buckling near the borehole surface. The model introduces a combination of fracture mechanics parameters with dimension of length that scale the size...

The novel polymer poly[p-(2,5-dihydroxy)-phenylenebenzobisoxazole] (PBOH) fiber was synthesized in the presence of 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalicacid (DHTA) and 4,6-diamino-1,3-benzenediol in poly(phosphoric acid) (PPA) using typical polycondensation conditions. The crystalline solutions of liquid PBOH in PPA were spun into fibers using dry-jet wet spinning. Furthermore, the thermostability and mech...

Tire derived aggregate (TDA) has been proposed as a possible lightweight replacement for mineral aggregate in concrete. The role played by the amount of TDA replacing coarse aggregate as well as different treatment and additives in concrete on its properties is examined. Conventional concrete (without TDA) and concrete containing TDA are compared by examining their compressive strength based on...

The results of a numerical modeling program to evaluate the behavior of hollow concrete blocks under uniaxial compression are addressed. It has been considered appropriate to use interface elements to represent the confinement effect at the top and bottom of blocks. The response of the numerical simulations is compared with experimental data of masonry units. Laboratory tests were carried out u...

High-performance fiber-reinforced cement composites (HPFRCCs) are characterized by strain-hardening and multiple cracking during the inelastic deformation process, but they also develop high shrinkage strain. This study investigates the effects of replacing Portland cement with calcium sulfoaluminate-based expansive admixtures (CSA EXAs) to compensate for the shrinkage and associated mechanical...

Part III of this three-part paper about CARDIFRC 1 , a class of high performance short steel fibre-reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCCs), deals with the measurement of the tensile response of CARDIFRC 1 mixes on a specially developed specimen geometry and loading arrangement. It also compares the measured mechanical properties (Young’s modulus, E, compressive strength, fc, tensile streng...

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the residual compressive and splitting tensile strength of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) containing perlite and polypropylene (PP) fiber subjected to high temperatures. Cylinder specimens were subjected to various temperature ranges of 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,000°C. The mixtures were prepared with AAC cementitious materials conta...

Particle degradation and fracture play an important role in natural granular flows and in many applications of granular materials. We analyze the fracture properties of two-dimensional disklike particles modeled as aggregates of rigid cells bonded along their sides by a cohesive Mohr-Coulomb law and simulated by the contact dynamics method. We show that the compressive strength scales with tens...