Effect of Basalt Fiber on Static and Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Metakaolin-Based Cement Clay

To investigate the effects of basalt fiber content on the mechanical properties and microstructure characteristic of metakaolin-based cement clay, the static and dynamic uniaxial compressive and splitting tensile, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests were performed to study the stress-strain curves, static and dynamic peak stress, pore distribution characteristic, and reinforcement mechanism. In this research, the basalt fiber with the length of 12 mm were selected and the ratios between fiber and dry soil were 0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%, respectively. The obtained results showed a noticeable difference of stress-strain curve characteristics in the static and dynamic compressive tests. A positive correlation between deformation modulus and compressive strength was found for both static and dynamic tests. The addition of basalt fiber could efficiently increase the static and dynamic strengths of metakaolin-based cement clay, and the increment 66.15% and 74.63% was observed at 1.0% basalt fiber content for static and dynamic compressive strengths, respectively, while the corresponding increment values were 93.75% and 97.62% for its splitting tensile strengths, respectively. The basalt fiber could decrease the porosity of cement clay; moreover, the reinforcement mechanism of metakaolin and basalt fiber to cement clay was analyzed based on the SEM test results.