Effect of the roughness of steel fibre surface on its wettability and the cement paste close to fibre surface

Abstract

This study experimentally examines the relationship between fibre surface roughness, its wettability, and the microstructure of the cement paste close to the fibre. Results indicate that the amount of water that adheres to or is retained by the fibre surface grows with the increase in roughness. The distributions of porosity and of unhydrated cement grains, which were produced through analysis of BSE images with a k-means clustering algorithm up to 100μm from fibre surface, revealed a decrease in both large pores and porosity when roughness increased but not a clear effect on the distribution of unhydrated cement grains.