This document studies the effect of adding polypropylene fibers, steel fibers, and glass fibers on the compressive and flexural strength of concrete. Various concrete mixtures were made with different dosages of polypropylene fibers from 0-0.45%, steel fibers from 0-2%, and glass fibers from 0-0.04%. Testing found that mixtures with 0.45% polypropylene and 2% steel fibers achieved the highest compressive strength increase of 24%, while mixtures with 0.3% polypropylene and 0.04% glass fibers saw the largest flexural strength increase of 49.43%. Overall, the study determined that polypropylene-glass fiber concrete performed better than polypro

1. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 – 6308
(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 4, July-August (2013), © IAEME
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EFFECT OF POLYPROPYLENE FIBER, STEEL FIBER & GLASS FIBER ON
PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE
MANAV MITTAL1
, DEEPENDRA SINGH2
, ADITYA DHAGAT3
1
Manav Mittal is currently pursuing B.Tech degree programme in Civil engineering in
VIT University, India
2
Deependra Singh is currently pursuing B.Tech degree programme in Civil engineering in
VIT University, India
3
Aditya Dhagat is currently pursuing B.Tech degree programme in Civil engineering in
VIT University, India
ABSTRACT
In present study, various techniques are brought into existence to enhance the properties of
concrete.Fiber reinforced concrete is most widely used solution for improving the tensile and
flexural strength of concrete.Various types of fibers such as steel, polypropylene, glass and polyester
are generally used for improving the properties of concrete.Here, we will study the effect of
inclusion of polypropylene- steel fiber & polypropylene-glass fiber on compressive strength and
flexural strength.A comparison will be drawn between all these materials.Polypropylene , steel and
glass fiber with different level of reinforcement index were investigated with pre-designed concrete
mixtures consisting of various polypropylene dosages (0% to 0.45%), steel fiber(0% to 2 %) and
glass fiber (0% to 0.04%).
Index Terms— Polypropylene fiber, Steel fiber, glass fiber, Concrete, Compressive strength,
Flexural strength, Cement, Coarse Aggregate
1 INTRODUCTION
In today’s world, almost all the structures have been found to have concrete as an important
building material which is a mixture of sand, cement, coarse aggregate and water. In order to con-
struct bridges, dams, retaining walls, high rise building and chimneys, concrete has been an impor-
tant building material. Cement is an important material in concrete, manufacture of which is expen-
sive and a cumbersome process. Due to wide use it has become essential to discover new techniques
to enhance its properties. Various methods are employed for this purpose but fibers have shown re-
markable abilities when infused in concrete. Then this concrete is called as Fiber Reinforced Con-
crete (FRC). The reinforcing fibers are randomly distributed in the Plain Cement Concrete (PCC). In
this paper we are trying to develop a comparison between different fibers on various properties of
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concrete. Here, we have taken compressive strength and flexural strength into account while varying
the dosages of fiber used. Polypylene fiber is varied from 0% to 0.45%, steel fiber is ranged from 0%
to 2% and glass fiber dosages are inbetween 0% to 0.04%.The compressive strength is tested for 3
days, 7 days and 28 days while flexural strength is tested for 7 days and 28 days. Respective graphs
are plotted to show the comparison.
2 METHOD AND MATERIALS
2.1 Cement: Ordinary Portland cement of 53 grade of 28 days compressive strength of 48.7 MPa,
satisfying the requirements of IS: 12269–1987. The specific gravity of cement was found to be
3.16.Cement is tested for various properties. The results have been showed in Table 1. These various
properties include consistency, initial setting time, final setting time, specific gravity, fineness and
soundness.
Table 1
Sr. No. Test Value
1. Consistency 31%
2. Initial Setting Time 159 minutes
3. Final Setting time 480 minutes
4. Specific Gravity 3.16
5. Fineness 2%
6. Soundness 2 mm
2.2 Fine Aggregate: The sand generally collected from the River bed,sand is the main component of
the concrete that material passing through 4.75mm IS sieve, that is grading zone-II of IS: 383-1978
was used with fineness modulus of 2.57,specific gravity of 2.65 and water absorption of 0.70 % at 24
hours.
2.3 Coarse Aggrgate: Mechanically crushed granite stone with 12.5 mm maximum size, satisfying
to IS: 383-1978 was used. The specific gravity was found to be 2.82, fineness modulus of 7.32 and
water absorption is 0.59 % at 24 hours.
2.4 Chemical Admixture: Polycarboxylate ether based super-plasticizer condensate as HRWR ad-
mixture was used and specific gravity of 1.18.
2.5 Polypropylene Fibers: Crimped polypropylene fibers imported from Korea was used in the
present study and the various properties of the material are given in Table 2.
Table 2
Material polypropylene
Appearance Crimped White Fiber
Relative Density 0.91
Length 45 mm
l/d Ratio 90
Thickness 0 mm
Width 1.1 mm
Tensile Strength 450 Mpa
Failure Strain 15%

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2.6 Steel Fibers: The undulated/hooked in nature – 0.6 mm in diameter and 36 mm length with an
aspect ratio of 60 were used in this research work. Table 3 shows the properties of crimped steel fi-
bers.
Table 3
Fiber Type Steel
Length 36 mm
Equivalent Diameter 0.6 mm
Tensile Strength 1100 Mpa
Dosage 20- 40 kg /m3
2.7 Glass Fibers: The glass fibers used was of the Cem-FIL Anti-Crack HD with modulus of elas-
ticity 70 GPa, Filament diameter 13 microns, specific gravity 2.67, length 13 mm.
3. CONCRETE MIX DESIGN
Components of concrete
Table 4
Content Quantity
Cement(c) 465 kg/m3
Fine Aggregate(F) 654 kg/m3
Coarse Aggregate(C) 1090 kg/m3
Water(w) 158 kg/m3
F/C 0.6
w/c 0.34
For all mix proportions these components are kept constant while the dosages of fibers are
varied. The polypropylene- steel fiber and polypropylene-glass fiber percentage is changed. This can
be seen in Table 5 & Table 6.
Table 5 (polypropylene-steel fiber)
MIX ID Polypropylene Fiber
%
Steel Fiber
%
A1 0 0
A2 0.15 1
A3 0.3 1
A4 0.45 1
A5 0.15 2
A6 0.3 2
A7 0.45 2

4. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 – 6308
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Table 6 (polypropylene-glass fiber)
4. EFFECT OF FIBERS ON COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH
4.1 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results and discussions in these tables include compressive strength of various mix pro-
portions and these strengths are compared with the help of graph.
Table 7 (compressive strength(Mpa) of polypropylene-steel fiber)
MIX ID 3 DAYS 7 DAYS 28 DAYS
A1 29.5 40.1 43.9
A2 37 47.1 58.2
A3 36.7 46.4 51.6
A4 33.3 40.9 48.9
A5 37.6 43.6 57.8
A6 34.9 44.3 51.4
A7 30.5 42.9 48.2
Table 8 (compressive strength(Mpa) of polypropylene-glass fiber)
MIX ID 3 DAYS 7 DAYS 28 DAYS
B1 29.5 40.1 43.9
B2 32.1 41.5 45.9
B3 33.9 43.2 47.5
B4 36.4 42 49.7
B5 33.4 40.7 42.4
B6 36.8 44.3 53.6
B7 35.4 42.4 52.7
With the help of these graphs a comparison can be drawn between the compressive strength
of polypropylene- steel fiber reinforced concrete and polypropylene- glass reinforced concrete. Here,
A is the mix id for polypropylene- steel fiber and B is the mix id for polypropylene-glass fiber.
MIX ID Polypropylene
Fiber %
Glass Fiber
%
B1 0 0
B2 0.15 0.02
B3 0.3 0.02
B4 0.45 0.02
B5 0.15 0.04
B6 0.3 0.04
B7 0.45 0.04

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Graph 1(compressive strength (Mpa) -3 Days)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
2 3 4 5 6 7
A
B
Graph 2(compressive strength (Mpa) -7 Days)
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
2 3 4 5 6 7
A
B
Graph 3(compressive strength (Mpa) -28 Days)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2 3 4 5 6 7
A
B
5. EFFECT OF FIBERS ON FLEXURALSTRENGTH
5.1 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results and discussions in these tables include flexural strength of various mix propor-
tions and these strengths are compared with the help of graph.
Table 9 (flexural strength (Mpa) of polypropylene-steel fiber)
MIX ID 7 DAYS 28 DAYS
A1 3.21 5.25
A2 4.5 8.35
A3 5.05 8.93
A4 5.63 9.22
A5 4.37 7.59
A6 5.11 6.97
A7 4.96 7.65
CompressiveStrength
CompressiveStrengthCompressiveStrength

6. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 – 6308
(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 4, July-August (2013), © IAEME
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Table 10 (flexural strength (Mpa) of polypropylene-glass fiber)
With the help of these graphs a comparison can be drawn between the flexural strength of
polypropylene- steel fiber reinforced concrete and polypropylene- glass reinforced concrete. Here, A
is the mix id for polypropylene- steel fiber and B is the mix id for polypropylene-glass fiber.
Graph 4(flexural strength (Mpa) -7 Days)
Graph 5(flexural strength (Mpa) -28 Days)
6. CONCLUSION
In the study, it can be concluded that performence characteristics of polypropylene-steel fi-
bers were dependent on optimum fiber dosage upto 0.45% and 2% while for polypropylene-glass it
was 0.3% and 0.04%.Any further addition of fiber resulted in loss in workability in both cases.The
maximum increase in compressive strength was found to be about 24% in case of polypropylene-
steel fiber on the other hand the increase was around 24.74% in polypropylene-glass fiber when
compared to reference concrete.The maximum increase in flexural strength was approximately 43%
in polypropylene-steel fiber reinforced concrete which was far less in comparison of polypropylene-
glass fibers which accounted an increase of 49.43%.Both the fibers have shown a capability of pre-
venting crack formation.Thus polypropylene-glass fiber reinforced concrete have proved to be much
better than polypropylene-steel fiber reinforced concrete.
MIX ID 7 DAYS 28 DAYS
B1 3.21 5.25
B2 3.87 5.74
B3 4.12 6.11
B4 4.76 6.25
B5 4.98 6.84
B6 5.33 7.26
B7 5.49 7.92
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2 3 4 5 6 7
A
B
0
2
4
6
8
10
2 3 4 5 6 7
A
B
FlexuralStrengthFlexuralStrength

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