APPLICATION OF SFRC

APPLICATION OF SFRC

Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete for Industrial Flooring

Warehousing demand is increasing day-by-day particularly in developing. Warehouse floor is important element of whole structure and floor should have particular properties to service the needs. The features desired for warehouse floors are - ’Vertical storage racks, material handling equipment, impacts & abrasions during material handling, long term serviceability need, etc. SFRC floors are now choice for Warehouses in India like elsewhere in world. Concrete is multifaceted material; it can derived to chosen properties by technology inductions.

There are so many ways to enhance concrete properties to suit desired properties. Thanks to technological developments. Warehouse floor demands hard, durable, tough, smooth floor with long term serviceability. As normal concrete can’t have these properties, advancements like reinforced concrete, Ferro cements, fiber reinforced (poly & metal fibers); polymer concrete has evolved over period of time. 

Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Pavement

Steel fibers have used in concrete since the early 1900s.The early fibers were round and smooth and the wire was cut or chopped to the required lengths. The use of straight, smooth fibers has largely disappeared and modern fibers have either rough surfaces, hooked ends or are crimped or undulated through their length. Modern commercially available steel fibers are manufactured from drawn steel wire, from slit sheet steel or by the melt-extraction process which produces fibers that have a crescent-shaped cross section. Steel fibers have equivalent diameters (based on cross-sectional area) of from 0.15 mm to 2 mm and lengths from 7mm to 75 mm.

Aspect ratios generally range from 20 to 100. (Aspect ratio is defined as the ratio between fiber length and its equivalent diameter, which is the diameter of a circle with an area equal to the cross-sectional area of the fiber). Steel fibers have high tensile strength (0.5–2GPa) and modulus of elasticity (200GPa), a ductile/plastic stress-strain characteristic and low creep. Concretes containing steel fiber have shown to have substantially improved resistance to impact and greater ductility of failure in compression, flexure and torsion. It has been extensively used for overlay roads, airfield pavements and bridge decks.

SPRAYED CONCRETE

The addition of fibers increases the ductility of sprayed con­crete. For instance, if the sprayed concrete lining of an exca­vated tunnel support is cracked due to high flexural stresses, the fibers can accommodate the tensile forces and act as an excellent yielding support. This interaction between sprayed concrete and fibers, therefore also increases the mechanical capacity of the lining. The reinforcement can then be reduced or light reinforcement can be omitted completely. The result is quicker and cheaper tunnel excavation supports.

FIRE PROTECTION

                                 

Steel fiber make concrete very much more fire resistant. The fibers are added to the concrete mix during its production. If a fire breaks out, e.g. in a tunnel, the synthetic fibers melt within the concrete and this creates a capil­lary system through which the water vapor pressure can be relieved. Concrete spalling is prevented or very significantly reduced, as are any necessary repairs, whilst increasing the durability, stability and safety of the structure.

PRECAST CONCRETE

The use of fibers in precast concrete results in lighter and more economic units because the possible reduction in steel reinforcement saves weight and reduces production time. The homogeneous distribution of the fibers throughout the concrete cross-section also gives high impact resistance right to the edges and corners. This allows secure installation on site without damage and with the use of synthetic fibers there is no hidden risk of injury to workers during production or installation.

 FORCETECH  STEEL FIBER                        YOUTUBE                      LINKEDIN