Rheological properties and workability of PVA fiber and nano-SiO2 modified cement-based materials

Nanoparticles and fibers are frequently applied to improve the mechanical properties and durability of cement-based materials (CBM). In this study, rheology, workability and compressive strength tests were carried out to investigate the effect of PVA fiber (PF) and nano-SiO2 (NS) on rheological properties, workability and mechanical properties of CBM. Also, the function relationships of PF/NS content with rheological and workability parameters, rheological parameters with compressive strength were established separately. In addition, the effect mechanism of PF and NS was explained in depth. Finally, the fuzzy matrix method was employed to make a comprehensive evaluation on CBM performance. The results indicated that PF had negative influence on both rheological properties and workability of CBM. Whereas, NS only exhibited an increase in rheological properties of CBM at 0.5% content and a slight improvement in workability at 1.0% content. The comprehensive performance of CBM reached the optimum with PF content of 0.6%.