Hybrid Fabrics as reinforcements for cement-based elements

Reinforcement of cementitious matrices with fibers and fabrics has received significant attention recently. Plain concrete has a very low tensile properties, and through the process of reinforcement with short or long fibers composites having superior tensile properties such as strain hardening, high strength, and high toughness are obtained. The composites properties highly depended on the reinforcement's properties, structure, and method of placement. Each reinforcement type has advantages and disadvantages; some can increased composite strength but are expensive, others can increase ductility but with insufficient strength. In this research, a new approach to maximise the advantages of the reinforcement was attempted using hybrid knitted fabrics. Five different fabrics were tested combining in each brittle AR-Glass yams and ductile Polypropylene (PP) yarns with different ratios (Glass-PP): 0-100%, 25-75%, 50-50%, 75-25%, 100-0%. Both the plain fabrics and the composites were tested in tension under statie and dynamic conditions (low and high loading rate, respectively). A good correlation was found between the tensile behaviour of the fabrics and composites under both loading rates. The hybridization, i.e., the combination of glass and PP yarns showed high influence on the composites properties under statie condition; however tensile properties under dynamic condition were primarily controlled by the glass yams only.