JOURNAL OF THE BRAZILIAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING, cilt.43, sa.9, 2021 (SCI-Expanded)
Mechanical and fracture behaviors of TiO2-added fiber geopolymer composites (TFGC) were investigated in this study. Mechanical properties of inorganic matrix composites, fiber-reinforced ceramic, and cement-based composites have been studied in different areas of engineering. However, studies about the use of TiO2-added geopolymer composites and the effects of the fiber-matrix interface of TFGC are quite rare in these areas. For this purpose, the compressive, flexural, and tensile strengths and microstructural characterizations of fiber-reinforced geopolymer composites were tested in this study. Results demonstrated that the compressive strengths of steel fiber-reinforced geopolymer composite increased for 0.5%, 1.0%, and 2.0% fiber content compared to the control sample by approximately 96.5%, 90.3%, and 79.2%, respectively. The research findings indicate the high tensile strength of TFGC due to better interface adhesion of fibers. It was also demonstrated that the macro-steel fiber volume fraction of 2.0% of the geopolymer sample exhibited strain hardening in the flexural test. Consequently, it is thought that geopolymer composites will be an important field of application in engineering areas.