2nd International RILEM Conference on Strain Hardening Cementitious Composites

12-14 December 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

APPLICABILITY OF COMPOSITE CHARPY IMPACT METHOD FOR

STRAIN HARDENING TEXTILE REINFORCED CEMENTITIOUS
COMPOSITES
J. Van Ackeren (1), J. Blom (1), D. Kakogiannis (1), J. Wastiels (1), D. Van Hemelrijck (1), S.
P P P P P P P P P P

Palanivelu (2), W. Van Paepegem (2), J. Vantomme (3)

P P P P P

(1) Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Mechanics of Materials and Constructions, Brussels, Belgium
(2) Universiteit Gent, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Gent, Belgium
(3) Royal Military Academy, Civil and Materials Engineering Department, Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

Since most test methods, used for strain hardening cementitious composites, are adopted
from polymer composites test standards, this paper investigates the applicability of a standard
impact test (ISO 179-1:2000), which is used in the polymer composites world, on a specific
textile reinforced cementitious composite using an inorganic phosphate cement (IPC) as a
matrix material. The aim is to provide a test method to investigate the local impact behaviour
of textile reinforced cementitious composites. It was found within this work that this method
is applicable to cementitious composites provided some adaptations to the specimens’
dimensions. The Charpy impact strength of an IPC matrix reinforced with different kinds of
fibre types is successfully investigated. This test method can be used to qualitatively rank
different cementitious composite materials.

1. INTRODUCTION
In the last few decades, many new cementitious materials were developed in order to reach
thinner and stronger construction elements. The evolution started with the introduction of
loose steel or polymeric fibres into the fresh concrete mixture, leading to fibre reinforced
concrete (FRC): the addition of fibres into concrete provides toughness or energy absorption
capacity to the inherently brittle concrete. A new generation of FRC’s are the so called textile
reinforced concretes (TRC) in which mainly fibre textiles (glass, polymers …) are applied as
reinforcement: they can provide also a strain hardening capacity when a sufficiently high
quantity of fibres is used. In a recently held conference on these kinds of materials [1], the
potential of these new composites was again demonstrated. In an attempt to better define high
performance fibre reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCC), Naaman and Reinhardt [2]
proposed a clear classification of these materials according to their possibility to exhibit strain
hardening under bending or in tension. Within this classification a distinction is made
between the four following categories: (1) crack control, (2) deflection hardening, (3) strain
hardening and (4) high energy absorption.

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12-14 December 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Strain hardening cementitious composites (SHCC) not only show strain hardening under
tensile loading, but also can absorb a large amount of energy. The cementitious material
studied in this paper can most certainly be classified in the fourth category. It exists of an
inorganic phosphate cement (IPC) matrix with different kinds of textile reinforcements. IPC
was developed at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and consists of a liquid component based on
phosphoric acid solution containing inorganic metal oxides and a calcium silicate powder
component. Next to the advantages of being incombustible (EN13501-1), this material also
possesses a neutral pH after hardening, which allows cheap E-glass fibres to be used as
reinforcement. It is however also possible to process other types of fibres, such as polymeric
fibres or carbon fibres, into this cementitious matrix. Figure 1 shows typical tensile stress-
strain behaviour of IPC composites with different kinds of fibre reinforcements. The fibre
volume fraction is kept constant for all materials at about 20 %. It is clear from this figure that
indeed all tested composite specimens can absorb a significant amount of energy due to their
pronounced strain hardening behaviour after multiple matrix cracking. Note that depending on
the used fibre reinforcement one can obtain a completely different composite material. For
instance the curve of PE-reinforced IPC shows stiff and strong (up to 400 MPa) behaviour,
while on the right side of the graph the PVA reinforced IPC shows ductile (maximum strain
more than 5 %) but less strong behaviour.
This composite material has been investigated in a project that studied the possibility of
producing sandwich structures that are able to absorb a significant amount of energy under
blast or impact loading. The textile reinforced IPC was meant to protect the energy absorbing
core against fire and to distribute the load from the explosion to the sandwich core [3].
Apparently, the material itself is able to absorb energy under blast and impact loading without
failing. Under impact loading only local damage can cause failure of the material. Globally,
there will be matrix cracking reducing the stiffness, but the material keeps its load bearing
capacity. In this paper, the local impact damage and the corresponding energy absorption are
investigated by means of impact tests.

450 Carbon

400 PE

basalt
350
E-glass (1)
300
E-glass (2)
stress [MPa]

250 PVA

200

150

100

50

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
strain [%]

Figure 1: tensile stress-strain behaviour of IPC reinforced with different UD-fibres

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C us Compositees
12-144 Decemberr 2011, Rio de
d Janeiro, Brazil
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2. CHHARPY IM MPACT TES ST

Manyy test methhods for SH HCC – like tensile
t testing - are addopted from m, or inspireed by the
polymerr compositees world, raather than the t concretee world. Annother exam mple is the bending
test: thee scale of thhe specimenn dimensionns of a ben nding test foor SHCC is much smaaller than
that forr concrete or FRC beeams. In order o to stuudy the loccal impact behaviour and the
correspoonding enerrgy that cann be absorbbed, a suitab ble test metthod needs to be seleccted. The
most coommon test methods cooncerning impact i on composites
c are either ddrop weightt tests or
penduluum tests. In drop weighht tests globbal and locaal impact beehaviour cann be investiigated in
a quantiitative way. The Charppy pendulum m impact teest was inittially designned to test the
t local
energy absorption
a c
capacity off metals undder three poiint bending. Adaptations of the machine’s
m
capacityy and the sppecimen dim mensions haave led to th he developm ment of Chaarpy impact tests for
other materials.
m Inn the 1980’s and 19990’s Charpy y impact teests were ddeveloped for f FRC
composites [4]. Thhe specified specimen dimensions
d are however not appliicable for th hin TRC
materialls. For plasttics and pollymer compposite materrials a standdard test meethod has also a been
developped (ISO 1779-1: Plasticcs – Determ mination of Charpy im mpact properrties – Part 1: Non-
instrumented test) [5].
[ It is cleearly stated in
i this stand
dard that thee method shhould not bee used to
obtain design
d data. The purpose of the Chharpy test iss to providee a comparaative test to evaluate
the locaal impact ennergy absorpption of diffferent materrials. The prrinciple of tthe test is illustrated
in figurre 2 on the left. A speecimen is siimply suppo orted on booth sides annd is impacted by a
single blow
b of a pendulum
p s
striker. Thee absorbed energy is determined
d by calculaating the
differennce in potenntial energy of the penddulum befo ore and afterr impact. TThe reported d Charpy
impact strength is defined as thist energy divided by y the mid seection area. There are different
possiblee testing diirections: thhe specimenn can be teested flatwiise or edgeewise (see figure f 2,
right) annd normal or parallel to the lam mina. All speecimens tessted in this work are tested t in
normal flatwise diirection. Fuurthermore a distinctio on is made between m materials ex xhibiting
interlamminar shear (ILS) andd those not exhibiting g this fractuure mode. Similar to fracture
mechannics theory the specim mens can bee notched. In case of cementitiouus composiites it is
howeveer not necesssary to notcch the specim mens since the materiaal already coontains miccroscopic
flaws thhat will innitiate failurre. Moreovver the fibrres inside the t materiaal will be severely
damageed by the notch.

edgewise fflatwise

Figure 2:
2 left: Charrpy impact test;
t right: different
d test configurattions [5].

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12-14 December 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Charpy impact strength can be compared to typical values for toughness that is defined
in fracture mechanics as being the energy that is necessary for the growth of a crack.
Toughness (G c ) is a material parameter, typical values for different materials can be found in
R R

Ashby and Jones [6]. For metals, values between 100 and 1000 kJ/m² are given while for most
plastics the toughness is less than 10 kJ/m². Typical values for composites start at 5 kJ/m² and
can reach more than 100 kJ/m².
Three specimen types are defined in ISO 179-1 [5] as illustrated in Table 1. Note that the
given tolerances are rather small for cementitious materials. In the experimental section the
average values of the dimensions together with their standard deviation will be given.
Specimen type 1 is used when the material does not show interlaminar shear. Specimen type 2
is designed to induce typical bending failure modes for materials that undergo ILS. These
specimens fail in the middle section of the span either by tensile failure on the back of the
specimen or compressive failure or buckling of fibres at the impacted side. The span to
thickness ratio is fixed to 20 for this specimen type. To test the energy absorption capacity of
interlaminar shear phenomena, specimen type 3 is designed with much smaller span to
thickness ratio of 6 or 8. The value of 8 can be chosen if it is not possible for practical reasons
to test at such small spans.

Table 1: Specimen types, dimensions and spans proposed by ISO-179 [5]

Specimen Length l Width b Thickness h Span L
1 80 ± 2 10.0 ± 0.2 4.0 ± 0.2 62 +−00..50

2 25h 20h
10 or 15 3
3 11h or 13h 6h or 8h

3. EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
All tests in this work were performed on a Ceast Impactor II 7611 pendulum testing
machine. The pendulum has a capacity of 15 J and is equipped with a processing unit that
immediately calculates the Charpy impact strength. The speed at impact is 3.8 m/s. Before
every series of measurements the machine is calibrated by determination of the friction in the
pendulum.

3.1 2D RANDOM GLASS FIBRE MAT REINFORCEMENT

The first series of specimens, which contains 2D random chopped strand glass fibre mats
as reinforcement, were manufactured by hand lay-up technique [7]. The volume fraction is
about 20 %. Note that only part of this fraction is contributing to the load carrying capacity of
the specimen. Five different series of 20 specimens were manufactured (see table 2): the three
different types of specimens according to the ISO 179-1 standard. For type 2 and 3 the
influence of the width was tested (10 or 15 mm) by adding two extra series.
The results of these tests are made visible in figure 3 in form of boxplots. The the bold line
in the middle of the grey box represents the median. Next to the boxplots, a figure shows the
tested specimens and their failure modes.

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12-144 Decemberr 2011, Rio de
d Janeiro, Brazil
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Table 2: Specimen dimensionss of IPC reiinforced witth random chopped

c straand glass fib
bre mats
Speecimen length spaan L width
w b thicknesss h
t
type l (mm) (m
mm) b stdev h stdev
tyype 1 80 6
62 9.9
99 0.01 4.26 0.20
typee 2 – 10 75 6
60 9.8
84 0.08 3.28 0.14
typee 2 – 15 75 6
60 14.333 0.09 3.48 0.09
typee 3 – 10 33 1
18 9.8
83 0.08 3.14 0.19
typee 3 – 15 33 1
18 14.229 0.12 3.20 0.20

In figgure 3 (righht) it is clearr that indeeed the differrent specimeen types cauuse differen nt failure
types and consequuently variaant Charpy impact strrength resuults. Type 1 and 2 sp pecimens
mainly fail through compresssion and tennsion (in a minor wayy) in the m middle sectio on. This
bendingg failure moode is how wever combbined with a small areea of interllaminar sheear for a
specimeen of type 1 (see figuure 3), whhich explain ns the highher absorbed energy for f these
specimeens (43.5 kJ/m²)
k comppared to typpe 2 specim mens (27 kJ/m²).
k Interrlaminar sh hear is a
failure phenomeno
p on which abbsorbs moree energy co ompared to a pure bendding type of o failure
due to the
t larger frree surface area a that is created. Allthough thesse specimenns all fail un nder ILS
or multiiple shear, there
t is a loot of scatter on the resu
ults of type 3 specimenns. Values of o almost
50 kJ/m m² up to 120 1 kJ/m² were obserrved. This specimen type mighht thereforee not be
applicabble for thiis kind of random fibre fi reinforced cemenntitious maaterial. A possible
explanaation for thiss is that thee specimen dimensionss exceed thee longitudinnal dimensio on of the
fibre buundles. Thiss means thaat fibre bunndles were cut c and thuus damaged during pro oduction.
Finally the effect ofo the speciimen width was investtigated: meaan values oof specimen ns with a
width of
o 15 mm seeem to be slightly s highher, but duee to the largge scatter thhese differeences are
not signnificant (figuure 3, left).
For comparisonn with thesse results two t other matrix
m mateerials are iimpregnated d in the
randomm fibre reinfoorcements. The T appliedd matrices area a very finne grained ccement morrtar with

ILS
S

Figgure 3: left: boxplots of

o test resultts, right: testted specimeens, differennt failure typ
pes

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d Janeiro, Brazil
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F
Figure 4: im
mpacted specimens withh mortar maatrix (left) and
a epoxy m
matrix (rightt)

a maximmum grain size

s of 0.6 mm m and an epoxy resin n used in lam minating appplications for
f wind
energy and boat buuilding (EP PIKOTE Resin L 135 and a EPIKU URE Curing Agent H 134 from
Hexion)). The cement mortar consists off quartz (71 13.6 g), quaartz powderr (499.5 g),, cement
(490.0 g),
g water (2445.0 g), fly ash (175.0 g), silica-fu ume (70.0 g)g and superr plastifier (10.5 g).
Onlyy results of specimens
s o type 1 arre given, sin
of nce it was foound that booth materialls do not
show innterlaminar shear failuure. The speecimens co ontaining mortar
m are tooo brittle caausing a
complette break of their middle section (ffigure 4, left ft). The averrage Charpyy impact strrength of
ten imppacted speciimens was found
f to bee 9.67 kJ/m²² with a staandard deviaation of 1.8 84 kJ/m².
The epooxy specimeens on the other
o hand show a mucch larger ennergy absorrption capaccity. The
averagee of ten testts is 93.54 kJ/m² withh a standard d deviation of 13.8 kJJ/m². All sp pecimens
seem too fail on the tensile sidee of the speccimens (see figure 4, right). There are two reaasons for
this muuch higher energy
e absoorption capacity: epox xy resin hass a much beetter bond with the
fibres and
a shows a large straiin to failuree. For comp parison: thee elongationn at break iss around
0.02 % for mortar and IPC whhile it is 7 too 10 % for the epoxy resin.r Tensille failure will
w occur
at the back
b of the specimenss and thus largerl strain
n energy leevels are reeached. Thee second
cause foor higher ennergy absorpption is the high flexural strength of o the epoxyy resin com mpared to
the morrtar or the IPPC. The fleexural strenggth of the mortar
m and the
t IPC is aabout 10 MP Pa while
that of the epoxy resin is 110 to 130 MPa. Alth hough the energy
e absoorption of the IPC
specimeen is smalleer than that of
o polymer composite materials,
m itt absorbs m
more energy than can
be derivved from thee propertiess of the matrrix materiall itself.

3.2 U
Unidirectio
onal reinforrcement
The aim of thiss section is to validatee this stand dard test meethod for IP PC specimeens with
differennt kinds of fibre typess as reinforrcement. In n order to beb comparaable the sp pecimens
should contain thee same amoount of fibrees. The fibrre volume fraction
f (appproximately 20 %)
could beb well conntrolled by using a seelf-made pu ultrusion seet-up to im
mpregnate the t fibre
bundless. Once immpregnated, the bundlees were pu ut straight ini a mouldd which is pressed
togetherr. Specimenns are then cured for 24h
2 at room m temperatuure and posst-cured forr another
24h at 60°C.
6 The different
d fibrre types witth their prop
perties can be
b found inn table 3. Glass fibre
rovings are manuffactured by Owens Coorning, basaalt fibres arre from Bassaltex, carb bon from
TOHO, PVA from Nordifa annd PE from DSM. D
Sincee specimenss made withh IPC and UDU glass fib bres, all showed ILS, itt was decideed to test
both speecimen types 2 and 3 for all fibree types. Thee first seriees of tests aare type 2 teests with
nominall dimensionns of 10mm m x 3mm x 75mm with w a spann of 60 mm m. Specimeens were
howeveer, due to maanufacturing, averagelyy 3.3 mm th hick, which lowered thee span to thhickness

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12-144 Decemberr 2011, Rio de
d Janeiro, Brazil
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Table 3: different fibre

f types with
w their prroperties
Deensity Tex Strength Stifffness
Fibre type
t
(kkg/m³) (g/km) (MPa) (G
GPa)
glass SE-
S
2
2600 600 950 775
120001 P

glass SE-
S
2
2600 600 950 775
150002 P

basaalt 22700 1600 1100 778

carboon 1
1800 250 1275 1770
PVA A 1
1300 250 1000 333
PEE 9
975 176 1870 1005
1 2
P P straight fibrre bundles, twissted fibre bundless
P P

Figure 5:
5 observed ILS failure in type 2 sppecimens

ratio to 18 in steadd of 20. In more

m than 65
6 % of the tested speccimens, inteerlaminar sh hear was
observeed (figure 5)). This is proobably due to the relatiive weak boond betweenn fibres and d matrix.
To taackle this problem
p thee following solution waas found: too encouragee a bending g type of
failure, the ratio sppan to thickkness shouldd be increased. This was
w obtainedd by decreaasing the
nominall thickness of the speccimens to 2 mm, whilee the span iss kept constant at 60 mm. m The
theoretical span to thickness ratio
r now becomes
b 60//2 = 30. Thhe manufacttured specim mens for
this seriies had an average
a thicckness of 2.22 mm, whicch lowers thhis ratio to 227.3. These adapted
specimeens all failed in the midddle sectionn under ben nding. The obtained
o vaalues for thee Charpy
impact strength arre shown inn Figure 6 (left). Duee to scatterr, the differrences betw ween the
median values are not significcant except for the glasss fibres SE E-1200. Thiss could be expected
e
from viisual inspecction of thee tested speecimens. Alll specimenns failed unnder bendin ng at the
compresssive side of o the speciimen, which is more related
r to thhe matrix mmaterial thaan to the
used fibbre reinforccement. In order to inncrease the energy abssorption of these materials the
bond beetween fibrees and matrrix should be b increasedd. Local reinnforcement at the impaact point
can alsoo improve thhe performaance of thesse materials.
The last series ofo tests are performedd on type 3 specimens.. The averaage thicknesss of the
specimeens is arounnd 3.3 mm with w a standdard deviatiion of 0.1 mm.
m This reesults in a sp pecimen
length of
o 43 mm and a a span of 26.4 mm m accordingg to table 1. The resultts are show wn in the
right haand graph off figure 6. The
T specimeens all failed d under ILSS as can be sseen in the example
e

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12-144 Decemberr 2011, Rio de
d Janeiro, Brazil
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Figgure 6: resullts of adapteed specimenns of type 2 (left) and specimens

s oof type 3 (rig
ght)

in figuree 6 (right). In this studdy the speciffic used pollymer and glass
g fibres aabsorb more energy
under IL LS than thee carbon annd basalt fibbres. This can be linkeed to the boond quality between
the fibres and the matrix. Thee basalt fibbres seem to o be less well
w impregnnated than all other
fibre typpes.

4. CO
ONCLUSIO
ONS
Sincee most test methods, used
u for strrain hardeniing cementiitious compposites, are adopted
from poolymer com mposites testt standards, it was sugg gested withhin this papeer to investiigate the
applicabbility of a standard imppact test froom the polyymer compoosites worldd on these materials.
m
The aim
m is to provide a test method
m to innvestigate th
he local imppact behaviour of cemeentitious
compossites. The foollowing connclusions caan be drawn n:
- The propposed test method
m cann indeed be applied forr qualitativee compariso on of the
local im
mpact resistaance and energy
e absoorption capacity betweeen differen nt strain
hardeninng TRC matterials.
- Due to the poor fibre-matrix
f x bond, interlaminar shear becoomes an im mportant
damage mechanism m.
- Specimeens of type 2 should bee thin enoug gh (span to depth ratio above 30) to avoid
interlaminar shear effects
e

In orrder to be able
a not onlly to rank different
d maaterials, butt also to bee able to inv
vestigate
their loccal impact behaviour
b inn detail, insstrumented Charpy imppact tests caan be perforrmed. In
future work
w this poossibility wiill be explorred in orderr to be able to quantifyy the damag ge and to
comparee these resuults with moore global im mpact tests like drop weight
w tests.

ACKNO
OWLEDG
GEMENTS
Reseearch fundedd by a PhDD grant for the first au
uthor of the Institute foor the Prom
motion of
Innovattion throughh Science annd Technoloogy in Fland
ders (IWT-VVlaanderen)).

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REFERENCES
[1] W. Brameshuber, Proceedings of the International RILEM Conference on Materials Science
(MatSci), Volume 1: 2nd ICTRC, 2010, Aachen, Germany ISBN: 978-2-35158-106-3
P P

[2] A.E. Naaman, H.W. Reinhardt, High performance fiber reinforced cement composites
HPFRCC-4: International workshop Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 16-18, 2003. Cement and
Concrete Composites, Volume 26, Issue 6, 757-759 (2004)
[3] S. Palanivelu, W. Van Paepegem, J. Degrieck, B. Reymen, J. Nadambi, J. Vantomme, D.
Kakogiannis, J. Van Ackeren, D. Van Hemelrijck, J. Wastiels, Experimental and numerical blast
energy absorption study of composite tubes for sacrificial cladding structures, ECCM-14, 7-10
June, 2010, Budapest, Hungary
[4] V. Gopalaratnam, S. Shah, R. John, A modified instrumented charpy test for cement-based
composites, Experimental Mechanics, volume 24, issue 2, p. 102-111 (1984)
[5] ISO 179-1: 2000, Plastics – Determination of Charpy impact properties – Part 1: Non-
instrumented test
[6] M.F. Ashby, D.R.H. Jones, “Engineering materials 1: An introduction to properties, applications
and design”, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, Burlington, 2005, ISBN 0-7506-63804
[7] J. Blom, P. Van Itterbeeck, J. Van Ackeren, J. Wastiels, Textile reinforced inorganic phosphate
cement composite moulds, NCTAM-2009, 2009, Brussels, Belgium

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