Flexural behavior of glass fiber reinforced cement incorporating foam

Abstract

Glass fiber reinforced cement (GRC) incorporating foam has good thermal insulation. Micro pores not only lowered the strength of the cement matrix but also changed the friction between the fiber and the matrix. It has an influence on modulus of rupture (MOR) and fracture energy of GRC. In this work, the effect of the glass fiber and foam contents of GRC on the MOR and fracture energy were evaluated using four-point flexural tests. The results show that glass fiber content has little influence on MOR of GRC. However, the MOR decreased significantly with increasing foam content. The empirical formula summarized by experiments can well characterize the relationship between the MOR and density of foamed GRC. The content of glass fiber and foam has a significant influence on the fracture energy of GRC. The fracture energy of foamed GRC decreased with the decrease of dry bulk density, and the decrease was fast and then slow.