Bendable Concrete
Unlike conventional concrete, which is brittle, flexible or bendable concrete is an engineered cement composite (ECC) with the properties of a ductile material. The material composition of conventional concrete is altered in order to impart flexible nature in concrete. This flexible or bendable concrete was developed by Professor Victor Li of the University of Michigan. The flexible or bendable concrete is composed of cement, fibers, sand, water, and superplasticizer.
Some of the important constituents of flexible concrete are briefly explained below:
1. Fibers in Flexible or Bendable Concrete
The most commonly used fibers are quartz fibers, asbestos fibers, glass fibers, steel fibers, etc. The flexibility of ductile concrete is imparted by the fibers present in it. Fibers also act as reinforcements for concrete.
2. Fine Aggreegate in Flexible or Bendable Concrete
Fine sand, commonly used in water treatment activities, is the best fine aggregate for flexible concrete. If this is not available, regular sand can be used. Some alternatives such as silica fume, blast furnace slag and fly ash can also be used in this concrete manufacture.
3. Superplasticizer in Flexible or Bendable Concrete
Flexible concrete requires higher workability which hence demands superplasticizers and these are the superplasticizers used for flexible or bendable concrete: lignin, naphthalene, melamine formaldehyde, sulphonate, polycarboxylate ether, and lignosulfonates.
The advantage of flexible or bendable concrete are: high durability, high ductility, high strength, doen’t emit harmful gases, higher resistance to cracking, and reduce the usage of steel.
The disadvantage of flexible or bendable concrete are: required skilled labor for the application, more expensive than normal concrete, the availability of special materials for flexible concrete is difficult to obtain, and the compressive strength is lower than normal concrete.
Written by Lim Michael & Jason A.
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