Material Steel mesh/ steel fiber Micro/macro polymer fiber extruded

polypropylene
Typical length 30-60 mm Micro: 6-20 mm Macro: 30-65 mm
Typical diameter 0.5-1.0 mm Less than equal to 0.30 Macro: Greater
mm than 0.3mm
Young’s Modulus 210,000 MPa 3000-12,000 MPa
Tensile strength 100-3000 MPa 200-700 MPa
Density 7850 kg/m3 910 kg/m3
Melting point 1500 0C 165 0C
Material Composition Made from steel Made from synthetic polymer
Susceptible to
Corrosion Resistance corrosion Highly resistant to corrosion
Cost More Expensive Relatively Inexpensive
Weight Heavy Lightweight
Ductility Brittle Flexible
Resistant to most
Chemical Resistance chemicals Resistant to most chemicals
Requires specialized
equipment for
mixing and
Installation distribution Easy to mix and distribute

Comparison of Fiber Tuff and Steel Fibers

Fibre tuff Steel fiber
1 Specially processed to Various type of indentation are
increase bonding strength done in order to increase
with concrete thus maximum bonding which can adversely
performance is delivered affect pumping and hose life
2 Easier to pump, also hose and Restrained flow, loss to pump
pump loss are very less. No and hoses. 10 kgs or 50,000
wear and tear to batching nos. of steel needles moving at
plant/site mixer with the use high speed while mixing of
of macro synthetic fibers. concrete will cause a lot of
Bounce back losses are very wear and tear to the batching
low at the time of shotcreting plant and transit mix. Bounce
back losses are very high
3 Safer to handle as they pose Human injuries as well as
very little risk of human injury movement of material causes
during handling and as- damage and requires more
sprayed surface presents a labor
diminished risk of laceration.
4 The low mass of fibres used Higher mass of fibres used per
per cubic mere for most levels cubic meter. Dead weight is
 of post-cracking performance much higher, increases the
offers the contractor an risk of spalling.
advantage in terms of reduced
environmental and transport
costs that can make a
substantial difference to the
overall attractiveness of
shotcrete in remote areas.
Reduces explosive spalling at
the time of fire.
5 Carbon emissions per cubic Higher carbon emissions is
meter is less. Instead, it observed..
reduces carbon footprint.
6 Lower overall cost for FRS Overall cost for FRS mix is
mix. much higher.
7 Fibre Tuff are corrosion free Corrosion of Steel Fibres
and have no durability presents serious durability
concerns. problems."
8 Fibre Count per unit volume is Much lower fibre count per
8-10 times higher than steel unit volume than macro
fibres. Approx. 50,000 pieces synthetic fibres. Approx. 5000
per Kg. pieces per Kg.
9 Can be added to the mix at any Steel fibres tend to ball and
stage during batching. No glued steel fibres come
balling issues are observed. together resulting in loss of
fibres.