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Tensile creep of SHCC

Conference Paper · July 2007

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Stellenbosch University University of Pretoria
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TENSILE CREEP OF SHCC
William P. Boshoff (1), Gideon P.A.G. van Zijl (1)

(1) Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Abstract
The possibilities for the use of SHCC as a construction material have attracted the
attention of the construction industries world wide due to the superior properties of this
material. It shows high ductility in tension which has the ability to absorb orders more energy
compared to ordinary concrete. Due to the multiple cracking phenomenon it can improve the
durability of the material and so reduce the life cycle cost of a structure.
The micro-mechanical modelling and the structural benefits of SHCC have been the focus
of many research groups, but certain important aspects of the material have received little
attention, for example the time-dependant properties. The effect of tensile creep and creep
fracture have to date not been investigated.
This paper reports on recent research done on the tensile creep and shrinkage of SHCC.
Tensile creep tests were done on the macro-level as well as on the single fibre level. The
effect of cracking on the creep strain was also investigated. Single fibre pull-out tests were
performed to study this important mechanism of time dependence. The results of these tests
are presented and the implications for time-dependent behaviour of SHCC discussed.

1. INTRODUCTION
SHCC (Strain Hardening Cement-based Composites) have become an appealing possibility
as a building material in advanced structural systems. SHCC are a special class of HPFRCC
(High Performance Fibre Reinforced Cement-based Composites). SHCC have not only
received attention from the structural engineering industry, but are also the research focus of
many international research groups who are doing fundamental research of the material
behaviour and its application.
SHCC is distinguishable from ordinary FRC (Fibre Reinforce Concrete) as it shows steel
like pseudo strain-hardening in tension over a significant tensile strain. This phenomenon is
achieved by multiple cracking which can result in a strain extension of up to 5 % without
softening. This behaviour is achieved by engineering the composite, which consists of
cement, cement extenders, aggregates and fibres [1][2]. An example of the importance of the
micro-mechanical tailoring is the adjustment of the surface of PVA fibres when it was
introduced to SHCC to ensure this ductile behaviour [3]. Even though FRC has been

Page 1
researched for many decades [4], SHCC development only began recently in the early 1990’s
[5][6][7].
The time-dependant behaviour of any building material, which includes shrinkage, creep
and a rate-effect, is an important property that should be understood and quantified. The time-
dependant behaviour should be taken into account in the design guidelines for SHCC. Only
recently has the rate-effect been investigated [8][9][10][11], but research in the creep and
mechanisms causing creep of SHCC is still lacking.
Creep and creep fracture are important phenomena of any cement-based material. Creep
fracture can occur after a period of time if a load is applied to the material which is lower than
the static ultimate load. Another important uncertainty is the possible loss of ductility when a
sustained load is applied. Before these phenomena can be quantified, insight is required in the
mechanisms causing this behaviour.
In this paper, results of tensile creep tests as well as shrinkage tests are reported. The aim
of these tests was to understand the mechanisms rather than to quantify the phenomena, which
is a next step in this research project. Tensile creep tests were done on cracked and uncracked
specimens. To further explore the cause of the tensile creep, creep tests were done on fibres
and single fibres embedded in the matrix.

2. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
The experimental program to investigate the tensile creep behaviour of SHCC consisted
out of four parts. Firstly, tensile creep and shrinkage tests were done to investigate the tensile
creep behaviour of uncracked SHCC. Secondly, tensile creep tests were done on specimens
that were pre-cracked to gain insight in the creep behaviour of cracked SHCC. A test was also
done to investigate the tensile creep of a single fibre. Lastly, single fibre pull-out creep tests
were done to determine the influence of the time-dependant fibre pull-out on the tensile creep
behaviour of SHCC.
All tests were done using the same mix proportions, namely a water/binder ratio of 0.4 and
an aggregate/binder ratio of 0.5. The binder consisted of CEM I 42.5 cement, a fly ash filler
marketed as PozzFill by Ash Resources, South Africa, and Corex Slag of origin of the
Saldanha Steel Refinery in the Western Cape Province, South Africa used in the ratio of
45:50:5 by mass respectively. A fine sand was used as the aggregate. PVA (Polyvinyl
Alcohol) fibres with a length of 12 mm and a 40 μm diameter were add at 2 % by volume.
Note that the rheology refinement was achieved by the addition of a superplastizer and a
viscosity modification agent. The cross sectional dimensions of the gauge area of the tensile
specimens are 16 mm x 30 mm. All specimens were water cured for 14 days before testing
commenced. The complete mixing and casting procedure and the specimen geometry are
described in detail in [11].

2.1 Tensile creep and shrinkage

To investigate the tensile creep behaviour of SHCC, tensile creep tests as well as shrinkage
tests were done. All the specimens were tested unsealed, so the shrinkage values are required
to distinguish which part of the time-dependant strain response of the loaded specimens is
creep. It is acknowledged that the true basic creep cannot be calculated using this method of
testing unsealed specimens [12][13] and that the creep values presented in this paper will be
specimen size-dependant due to the inclusion of drying creep. The results will however give
meaningful insight into the tensile creep behaviour of an uncracked SHCC specimen.

Page 2
 The creep test setup was designed and built to apply the creep load with free hanging
weights acting on the specimens with a lever arm. The load is applied to two specimens in
series. The setup can be seen in Figure 1 a). Two LVDT’s were fixed to an aluminium frame
that was clamped over the gauge length of 88 mm to measure the strain, shown in Figure 2 b).
The climate room where the tests were performed was controlled to be at a constant
temperature of 23±1 ºC and a relative humidity of 65±5 %. The shrinkage tests were done by
placing the specimens on frictionless rollers.

Specimen

Specimen

L 3L Weights

a) b)
Figure 1. a) The tensile creep test setup. b) The creep specimen in the creep frame with the
strain measuring instrument attached.

Two specimens were used for each of the shrinkage and creep tests. The specimens were
kept moist using a small brush to ensure that shrinkage did not start before the onset of the
test. Al specimens were tested at an age of 14 days. The creep load was chosen at 50 % of the
static ultimate load. This ultimate stress was found to be 2.79 MPa for this specific mix and
type of specimens tested under the same conditions [11].

2.2 Tensile creep of cracked specimens

The true benefit of SHCC is only utilised after the material has cracked. The creep of a
cracked SHCC is thus important as it would be the condition of SHCC in its intended use. For
this reason tensile creep tests were done on SHCC specimens that were cracked under
controlled conditions before the tensile creep load was applied.
The test setup and procedure is the same as for the tests in Section 2.1, save for the
exception that the specimens were loaded to 1 % tensile strain and released before the creep
load was applied. The tensile strain was applied using a Zwick Materials Testing Machine
using displacement control. Eight specimens were tested in total using four different load
levels. The test program is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Test program for the tensile creep tests on cracked specimens.
Loading as % of ultimate strength 30 % 50 % 70 % 80 %
Actual applied stress [MPa] 0.81 1.32 1.87 2.11
Number of specimens 2 2 2 2

Page 3
 Photographs were taken of the specimens over time to monitor crack growth and the time-
dependant widening of the cracks.

2.3 Fibre pull-out creep

To study a possible source of the tensile creep behaviour, creep tests were done on the
single fibre level. Single fibres were embedded in the matrix at a specific embedment length.
A sustained load was applied to the embedded fibres individually to simulate a creep load.
A schematic representation of the test setup is shown in Figure 2 and is described in detail
in [11]. A series of rate-dependant pull-out tests were done in [11] using the same procedures
and mix proportions as for these tests. [11] found that the average interfacial shear resistance,
τ0, which is the pull-out force divided by the interfacial shear area, of the fibres was 2.4 MPa.
A creep load of 50 % of the ultimate resistance was chosen.

10N load cell

Fibre mounting plate

Fibre

Test sample

Base plate

Figure 2. Schematic representation of the single fibre pull-out test setup.

Two sets of creep tests were done. For the one set the creep load was applied to the fibres
and sustained. For the other set the fibres were debonded from the matrix before the creep
load was applied. The debonding was achieved by pulling the fibre with a constant pull-out
rate from the matrix using the actuator until a slight load drop or change of gradient occurs in
the force-displacement response. This indicates that the fibre has debonded completely. The
test program and the actual embedment lengths for each specimen are shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Test program for the time-dependant fibre pull-out creep tests.
Debonded tests Fully bonded tests
Number of specimens 3 3
Actual embedment lengths [mm] 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.5 1.35
Loading, τ0 [MPa] 1.2 MPa 1.2 MPa

2.4 Fibre Creep

To investigate the possibility that fibre creep could attribute to the tensile creep of a
cracked section, a test was done on a single fibre using a sustained creep load.
The fibre was tested in the setup shown in Figure 2 with a minor adjustment to include a
second fibre mounting plate fixed to the base plate. Due to the possible time-dependant

Page 4
slippage of the fibre-glue interface, the creep extension was measured using a microscope
rather than the displacement of the actuator. The fibre diameter of 40 μm was used as a scale
for the measurement. A load of 800 MPa was applied to the fibre, i.e. half the fibre capacity.

3. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

3.1 Tensile creep and shrinkage

The measured strain responses of the shrinkage and creep specimens are shown in Figure 3
a). Note that the initial strain that occurred during the load application has been subtracted
from the response of the loaded specimens. It is clear that the shrinkage dominated the
response. The time-dependant strain response of one of the loaded creep specimens showed a
sudden increase after about 4 hours after the commencement of the load. The effect of this
sudden increase can be seen in Figure 3 a). The reason for this sudden increase was the
formation of a crack. It should also be noted that the creep rate is higher of the specimen that
cracked compared to the uncracked specimen.

0.1

0.05

-0.05
Strain [%]

Loaded specimens
-0.1

-0.15
Unrestrained specimens
-0.2

-0.25

-0.3
0 50 100 150 200 250
Time [days] after start of test

Figure 3. a) Individual creep and shrinkage responses of the uncracked specimens. b) The
tensile creep envelope excluding the initial strain.

The shrinkage response is typical for a cement-based material and the shrinkage apparently
converges to a value of about 0.23 % after 8 months of monitoring. To find the creep strain,
the shrinkage strain needs to be deducted from the strain of the loaded specimens of which the
initial strain has already been subtracted. The resulting creep envelope is shown in Figure 3
b). Note that the response of the creep specimen that cracked was discarded for the calculation
of the envelope.

3.2 Tensile creep of cracked specimens

The average strain response at each load level of the cracked creep test specimens is shown
in Figure 4 a). Note that only for the 30 % load level the shrinkage was dominant. The creep
compliance, Cc, also known as the specific creep, can be calculated with:

Cc  c (1)

with εc the creep strain at a given time and σ the applied stress. After the shrinkage values
were deducted from the results, the average creep compliance at 8 months was calculated for
each load level. These values are shown together with the creep compliance of the uncracked
specimens in Figure 4 b).

Page 5
 3 16

Creep compliance, Cc [mm/m/MPa]

80 % 14
2.5 13.39
Time-dependant strain [%]

12
2
10
1.5
8

1 6
70 %
0.5 4 3.94
50 %
2.27
0 2
Cc of uncracked 0.49
30 % concrete
0
-0.5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
0 50 100 150 200 250
Time [days] % of ultimate load

Figure 4. a) The average responses of the cracked creep specimens at different load levels. b)
The calculated creep compliance’s of the cracked creep specimens.

During the first few hours of the load application, sudden jumps occurred in the strain
response as shown in Figure 5 a). It is believed that these jumps indicate the initiation of new
cracks. It is however clear from photographs taken that the crack widths increased over time.
This is shown in Figure 5 b) for one of the 80 % creep specimens.
2
1.8
80 %
Time-dependant strain [%]

1.6
1.4
1.2
1
80 %
0.8
0.6
70 %
0.4
30 Min 8 Months
0.2
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Time [hours]
a) b)
Figure 5. a) Sudden jumps in the response indicating crack formation. b) Photographs
showing the increase of crack width over time.

3.3 Fibre pull-out creep

All six the fibres that were under a sustained creep load of 50 % of the static ultimate
resistance pulled out completely within 80 hours. The time to failure for each test and the
averages for the sets are shown in Figure 6 a).

3.4 Fibre creep

The distance between two points on a fibre was monitored using a microscope over a
period of 60 hours. For the creep of the fibre to have any significant influence on the tensile
creep of SHCC, there should be at least an increase of 0.5 % of the length during this duration
as calculated by [11]. The postulated increase is also shown in Figure 6 b) and it is clear that
no significant creep of the fibre was found.

4. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
A relative large shrinkage value of 0.23 % was found after 8 months. Even though this
shrinkage magnitude is alarming, it should not pose a problem in most application of SHCC

Page 6
as the tensile capacity of SHCC is in the order of 5 %, thus the shrinkage strain should be
easily absorbed.

80
147
70 Average
Fibre length for 0.5 % creep
Time to full pull-out of fibre [Hours]

145
over 60 hours
60
143

Length [μm]
50

141 Fibre length measurements

40

30 139

20
137

10
135
0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Non-debonded Debonded Time [hours]
a) b)
Figure 6. a) Time to complete pull-out of the single fibre pull-out creep tests. b) The length
measurements of the fibre creep test with a line to indicate what the response would be if a
linear creep of 0.5 % over 60 hours would realise.

In Figure 3 a) it is shown that the shrinkage phenomenon clearly dominates the creep
behaviour if the material is uncracked and loaded at 50 %. However, if the material is cracked
to 1 % tensile strain, the shrinkage only dominates at a load of 30 % as shown in Figure 4 a).
It is important to note that at a creep load of 50 %, the creep strain is about 4 times more if
the specimens were pre-cracked to 1 % tensile strain compared to the uncracked specimens.
This clearly shows that the creep strain increases with an increase of cracks in a section. This
was also confirmed by the uncracked creep tests where a significant increase of creep strain
and rate was found after the one creep specimen cracked.
The creep strain of the cracked specimens showed an exponential increase of the creep
strain with an increase of the creep level. This clearly shows that the creep of a cracked
section is not linearly proportional to the load level, but increases rapidly with an increase of
load.
To find the source of the tensile creep strains in a cracked section, creep tests were done on
a single fibre level. The fibre itself was shown not to have any significant contribution to the
SHCC tensile creep. However, fibres embedded in the matrix did show significant creep when
a sustained pull-out force was applied. All the tested specimens pulled out completely in less
than 80 hours with a force of half the static pull-out resistance. Fibres that were debonded in
the matrix before the start of the creep load showed a higher creep rate. This showed that the
source of the increased creep when a specimen is cracked is due to the time-dependant pull-
out of the fibres.
A final source of the tensile creep strain is the formation of (further) multiple cracking over
time. This phenomenon increases the phenomological tensile creep strain, even though
cracking is not commonly considered as a source of creep. This source of time dependence
was confirmed with the increase of creep when one of the uncracked creep specimens cracked
and is also indicated by the sudden jumps shown in Figure 5 a), the response of the cracked
creep tests.

Page 7
 5. CONCLUSIONS
The mechanisms behind the tensile creep of SHCC was investigated and identified. The
following significant conclusions can be drawn:
 Tensile creep of SHCC was found to consist out of three parts, namely the matrix
creep, time-dependant fibre pull-out and the formation of (further) multiple
cracking over time.
 The creep strain of a cracked SHCC specimen increases exponentially with an
increase of the tensile creep load.
 The magnitude of the tensile creep was found to not only be dependant on the load
level, but also the number of cracks in the SHCC section.
 The increase of the creep strain of a cracked section compared to an uncracked
section can be attributed to the time-dependant fibre pull-out and not to the creep of
the fibres.

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