Influence of sizing of basalt fiber on the mechanical behavior of basalt fiber reinforced concrete

In this study, the original basalt fiber (BF), and the sizing-removed BF through the heat treatment were pneumatically dispersed by using an air compressor and then were added into normal strength concrete to produce BF reinforced concrete (BFRC). The compressive test, splitting tensile test, and flexural test of BFRC specimens with two types of BF, three types of BF weight ratios, and three different BF lengths were performed. The test results show that the strength of sizing-removed BFRC specimens with 10‰ weight ratio was the highest compared to the other BFRC specimens. The sizing-removed BFRC specimens with 6 mm BF exhibit the maximum compressive strength, and sizing-removed BFRC specimens with 24 mm BF have the maximum splitting tensile strength and flexural strength. The sizing-removed BF with 10‰ weight ratio and three different types of fiber lengths were used in the impact test; the BFRC specimens with mixed 12 and 24 mm lengths have the best impact resistance performance compared to the BFRC specimens with fixed BF length. From SEM observation of the BFRC specimens after the impact test, the 24 mm BF in the BFRC specimen tends to breakage failure due to its higher bonding force.