Mechanical properties of corrosion-free and sustainable amorphous metallic fiber-reinforced concrete

This study aims to investigate the compressive and flexural behaviors of amorphous metallic fiber-reinforced concrete according to the water-cementitious materials ratio (w/cm) and fiber content. Three different w/cm (0.6, 0.45, and 0.35) and four different volume fractions of amorphous metallic fibers (0, 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75%) were considered. Test results indicated that higher compressive strength and elastic modulus were obtained with lower w/cm. Strain capacity and post-peak ductility were improved with an increase in the amorphous metallic fiber content. Flexural performances-that is, load-carrying capacity and deflection capacity-and fracture energy increased almost linearly with the reinforcing index. In particular, the concrete with a w/cm of 0.45 (average compressive strength of 44.2 MPa [6.4 ksi]) showed the highest fracture energy for all fiber contents. Finally, a generalized tension-softening curve (TSC) was suggested on the basis of inverse analysis and dimensionless parameters. The predicted values from finite element analyses incorporating the proposed TSC exhibited good agreement with the test results, including the load-carrying capacity, deflection capacity, and post-peak softening response.