EFFECTS OF WOVEN FABRIC GEOMETRY ON THE BONDING PERFORMANCE OF CEMENTITIOUS COMPOSITES - MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE

The effect of the geometry of woven fabrics on the bond between monofi lament polyethylene yarns and cement matrix was studied in the present work. The fabrics were all plain weave, with varied fills density: 5, 7, or 10 fills per cm; the warps' density was kept constant at 22 war ps per cm. The interfacial bond was evaluated by pullout tests. To cha racterize the influence of the fabric's geometry on bond performance, the influence of different parameters of the fabric's geometry that ma y affect bond were separated: (1) pullout of a single crimped yarn unt ied from the fabric to characterize the influence of the shape of the individual crimped yarn; (2) pullout of a single yarn from free fabric (not embedded in the cement matrix); and (3) pullout of a yarn from a fabric embedded in the cement matrix. Straight yarns were also tested for comparison. It was found that the woven fabric provided a conside rably better bond to the cementitious matrix than the bond of a single straight yarn. The crimped geometry of the yarn in the fabric was fou nd to have a significant influence on increasing the bond between the woven fabric and the cementitious matrix. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Lt d.