Studying the Combination Effect of Additives and Micro Steel Fibers on Cracks of Self-Healing Concrete

Abstract

In this study, the effect of the combination of micro steel fibers and additives (calcium hydroxide and sodium carbonate) on the size of cracks formation and healing them were investigated. This study aims to apply the use of self-healing phenomenon to repair cracks and to enhance the service life of the concrete structures. Micro steel fibers straight type were used in this research with 0.2% and 0.4% by volume of concrete. A weight of 20 and 30 kg/m³ of Ca(OH)₂ and 2 and 3 kg/m³ of Na₂CO₃ were used as a partial cement replacement. The results confirm that the concrete cracks were significantly self-healed up to 30 days re-curing. Cracks width up to 0.2 mm were completely self-healed after re-curing for 90 days by using the combination of micro steel fiber of 0.4% by volume of concrete and 25 kg/m³ of Ca(OH)₂ and 2.5 kg/m³ of Na₂CO₃ as a partial replacement of cement. Products of Self-healing are observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX). It was found that self-healing occurred mainly due to precipitation of calcium carbonate.