103.

11
JOURNAL OF C.C.I.T., VOL.43, NO.2, NOV., 2014

Effect of Different Types of Polypropylene Fibers on the

Properties of Mortar
Pey-Shiuan Song 1* and Chi-jen Tu 2
1

Department of Civil Engineering & Environmental Resource Management, Dahan Institute of Technology
2
Department of Civil Engineering, National Chung Hsing University

ABSTRACT
This paper researches the properties of four types of polypropylene fibers adding to mortar. It
involves fibrillated, staple fibers, monofilament, and staple fibers with crimp. The experimental results
show that all types of polypropylene fibers can increase compressive and tensile strengths, and reduce
plastic shrinkage cracks. Staple fibers with crimp are the best due to their highest fineness and good
dispersion, which ensure a large quantity of evenly-dispersed fibers in mortar. The evenly-dispersed
fibers prevent the expansion of micro cracks and increase crack-resistance while the mortar is still in
the plastic stage. As the hardened mixture receives external stress, the lower incidence of cracks and
the evenly-dispersed fiber with high tensile strength can effectively spread external stress and thus
increase compressive and tensile strength of the mortar.
Keywords: polypropylene fiber, dispersion, crack

1,* 2
2*

102.5.27; 103.3.26; *
Manuscript received May 27, 2013; revised March 26, 2014; * Corresponding author

Pey-Shiuan Song et al.

Effect of Different Types of Polypropylene Fibers on the Properties of Mortar

and a fineness modulus of 2.87. The

polypropylene fibers were fibrillated (P1), staple
fiber (P2), monofilament fiber (P3), and staple
fiber with crimp (P4). The photo and physical
characteristics were as shown in Table 1. It can
be seen that the fibers have different fineness,
quantity, tensile strength and elastic modulus,
etc.

. INTRODUCTION
The cracks in cement composites are
inevitable. There are two types of cracks. One is
formed when the stress exceeds the strength of
cement composites; the other is formed in the
plastic stage and caused by external temperature,
relative humidity, and loss of moisture due to
wind [1]. Adding polypropylene fibers to the
cement composites is an effective method of
preventing crack formation [2]. The dispersion
of the fibers in the wet mixture and their
bonding with the mortar can reduce bleeding,
prevent cracks, and increase the strength of the
mortar [3]. Sanjuan et al. [4] suggested that
polypropylene fibers can improve the properties
of the mortar and also restrict plastic shrinkage
cracks. Banthia and Gupta [5] showed that the
more the fiber content is, the greater the
crack-resistance of the mortar is. Ward and Li [6]
suggested that fiber forms influence the
properties and workability of the mortar, while
Singh et al. [7] indicated that polypropylene
fibers have excellent bonding, and can greatly
improve the properties of the mortar.

2.2 Fiber distribution

The distribution of fiber is an important
factor that can affect the property of cement
composites. The distribution of polypropylene
fibers in mortar was approximated through the
distribution of these fibers in the mixing water.
In this distribution test, 3g polypropylene fibers
were respectively added into a 6cm50cm
measuring cylinder, which filled with 1000g
mixing water. After the introduction, the
measure was stopped, vigorously agitated, and
allowed to stand for 2h. Next to the standing
procedure, dispersion zoon of fiber in measuring
cylinder was measured.

In recent years, the production process

of polypropylene fibers is very mature; costs
have been reduced, and many types of
polypropylene fibers are available. Adding
fibers to cement composites can form an
excellent composite material, and it is
widely utilized in civil engineering. Many
studies have indicated that the fiber content
is one of the most important factors of the
strength of mortar and concrete [8~10], but
few papers have addressed the influence
about the forms, strength, fineness, and
dispersion of fiber [5, 11], etc. This paper
consequently investigates the mechanical
properties of mortar which containing four
types of polypropylene fibers and plastic
shrinkage cracking.

2.3 Test Methods

The control mortar was mixed with a 1:
2.75 weight ratio of cement to sand, and on a
water-cement ratio of 0.55. The added fiber
content was 0.6kg/m3 and 0.9kg/m3, and the
fiber volume fractions are 0.07% and 0.1%,
respectively. The mixing process started with the
dry mixing of the cement and sand for 1 minute.
Afterward water was added and mixed for 2
minutes, the fibers were evenly scattered on the
mortar, and mixing was kept for 3 minutes to
disperse the fibers evenly throughout the mortar.
The polypropylene fiber mortar was subjected to
flow test according to the ASTM C-230 test
method. The method is to place the cone-shape
mold on the central of a flow table. Then pour
the mixed polypropylene fiber mortar into the
mold and lift up the mold. And then the
polypropylene fiber mortar spread by the
operation of the table. Finally the average
diameter of the polypropylene fiber mortar is the
flow value. The mixture was placed in a
5cm5cm5cm cubic compressive strength test
mold and a standard 8-shaped tensile strength
mold with a minimum central cross-sectional

. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
2.1 Materials
The materials included Type I Portland
cement and standard sand with ASTM C-778
2

 103.11
JOURNAL OF C.C.I.T., VOL.43, NO.2, NOV., 2014

Table 1
Fiber type

Physical characteristic of the polypropylene fibers

P1
P2
P3

P4

Photo of test fibers

fibrillated

staple fiber

monofilament

19

19

20

0.08

0.05

0.35

staple fiber with

crimp
10~25
(combination)
0.02

/ (250)

15 / (380)

/ (60)

2.5 / (875)

Number(million) / Kg

above 7

above 50

0.7~0.8

above 200

Tensile strength (MPa)

350

300

250

550

Specific gravity

0.91

0.91

0.91

0.91

Nil

Nil

Fiber geometry
Fiber length(mm)
Diameter(mm)
a

Denier / (L/D)

Absorption
Elastic modulus
Melt Point

Nil

Nil

3.2 GPa
320

3.0 GPa
340 F

2.7 GPa
4.2 GPa
( 160 170 C )

Ignition Point
590C
590C
590C
a
b
1 Denier = 0.05g / 450m Fiber,
(L/D) = Length of fiber / Diameter of fiber

area of 6.45cm2 . The specimens were

de-molded approximately 24 h after casting, and
placed in a water tank at a temperature of
231C for curing. The compressive and tensile
strength tests were performed after 28 days.
The plastic shrinkage crack test was
performed by placing polypropylene fiber
mortar in a 6cm60cm60cm steel mold. Test
specimens were kept at a temperature of
32~38C and relative humidity of 30% to 60%.
A fan kept breezing 8.5m/s on the surface of the
specimens for 24 h. Specimens was inspected
for growth of plastic shrinkage cracks. To clearly
describe the position of the crack on the
specimens surface, a high resolution digital
camera is used, and color difference process is
used to highlight the position of the crack.

590C

have the best dispersion. They are most evenly

distributed in mortar.

A: dispersion zone of fiber; B: the zone without

fiber *Dispersion=(A/1000) x 100%
Fig.1 Dispersion of polypropylene fibers in
measuring cylinder

. Results and Discussion

3.1 Dispersion Characteristic of Fiber

3.2 Flow values

Figure 1 shows the dispersion of the

various types of polypropylene fibers in water.
This test approximates the distribution of fiber in
mortar. The P4 were dispersed in 85% of the
water column, followed by the P2 in 65%, P1 in
21%, and P3 in 11%. This indicates that the P4

Table 2 shows the flow values of different

types of polypropylene fiber mortars, and
indicates that all types of fibers reduce the flow
value. The more the fiber content is, the lower
the flow value is, and the worse the workability
is. When the fiber content was 0.6kg/m3, the
value was still within 1105% of the standard
3

Pey-Shiuan Song et al.

Effect of Different Types of Polypropylene Fibers on the Properties of Mortar

fiber network blocks the movement of water less,

and there is a smaller drop in flow value. In
addition, the flow value of the P4 fiber is greater
than that of fibers P1 and P2. P4 fiber is staple
fiber with crimp and has good dispersion
characteristics, which results in evenlydispersed fibers in the mortar. The evenlydispersed fibers in the mortar would cause a
good outward radial movement effectively on
the flow table.

flow value. When fiber content was increased to

0.9kg/m3, the value quickly fell. The flow values
of P1, P2, P4, and P3 fibers were 98%, 99%,
100%, and 101%, respectively. The mortar
containing P1 fibers has the lowest value.
Because the fibers tend to form a network, it can
block moisture and reduce bleeding in the wet
specimen, and restrict the mixture outward radial
movement sharply on the flow table. In contrast,
the P3 fibers are relatively coarse and few in
numbers, so the fiber structure is loose. The

Mixture
no.

Table 2 Strength test results of the polypropylene fiber mortar

Compressive strength
Tensile strength
Flow

Fiber
content values Mean
(kg/m3) (%) (MPa)

SD

CV
(%)

Increment
(%)

Mean
(MPa)

SD

CV
(%)

Increment
(%)

P0
0
110
35.47 1.28 3.6
4.21 0.19
4.5
P1-0.6
0.6
105
37.36 1.57 4.2
5.3
4.43 0.13
2.9
5.3
P1-0.9
0.9
98
37.83 1.17 3.1
6.7
4.45 0.16
3.6
5.7
P2-0.6
0.6
105
38.23 1.76 4.6
7.8
4.46 0.19
4.3
6.1
P2-0.9
0.9
99
38.40 1.04 2.7
8.3
4.47 0.18
4.0
6.2
P3-0.6
0.6
107
36.28 2.25 6.2
2.3
4.35 0.22
5.1
3.4
P3-0.9
0.9
101
36.43 1.24 3.4
2.7
4.36 0.18
4.1
3.7
P4-0.6
0.6
106
39.08 1.21 3.1
10.2
4.56
0.11
2.4
8.5
P4-0.9
0.9
100
39.11 1.10 2.8
10.3
4.57 0.17
3.7
8.6
Note:
1. Mixture no.: P0 is the mortar without fiber, and the rest are polypropylene fiber mortars. The first two
characters indicate the type of the mortar, and the last two characters indicate the content of the fiber.
Ex.: P1-0.6, P1 means the type of the fiber is fibrillated.
0.6 means 0.6kg/m3 of fiber in mortar.
2. SD and CV: standard deviation and coefficient of variation for 9 specimens.
3. Increment (%) =[(Strength of polypropylene fiber mortar-Strength of P0) / Strength of P0]100%

Furthermore, the P4 fibers have the highest

elastic modulus 4.2GPa and tensile strength
550MPa. When the specimen is broken, these
fibers allow it withstanding greater load and
increasing the compressive strength of mortar.
Since the P3 fibers have poorest dispersion and
fineness, and with relatively low elastic modulus
and tensile strength, therefore the P3 fibers
increase the compressive strength slightly.

3.3 Compressive Strength

Table2 shows the compressive strengths of
mortar
containing
different
types
of
polypropylene fibers. Each result was the average
of nine test specimens. It can be seen that all
types of fiber increase compressive strength.
Adding 0.6kg/m3 of P1, P2, P3, and P4 fibers
increased compressive strength by 5.3%, 7.8%,
2.3%, and 10.2%, respectively. Adding 0.9kg/m3
of P1, P2, P3, and P4 fibers increased by 6.7%,
8.3%, 2.7%, and 10.3%, respectively. The results
comply with prior researches that the
compressive strength increases with an increase
in the content of fibers [6, 12]. The P4 fibers
produce the greatest increase in compressive
strength, and it was due to their crimp shape,
which is a great help to bond well with the wet
mixture. Moreover, the good dispersion and high
fineness of these fibers facilitated their even
distribution of stress throughout the mortar.

3.4 Tensile Strength

Table 2 also shows the tensile strengths
of the polypropylene fiber mortar specimens.
Adding 0.6kg/m3 of P1, P2, P3, and P4 fibers
increased tensile strength by 5.3%, 6.1%,
3.4%, and 8.5%. Adding 0.9kg/m3 of the fibers
increased by 5.7%, 6.2%, 3.7%, and 8.6%,
respectively. The order of the increased tensile
strengths was the same as the one of the
increased compressive strengths. The P4 fibers
4

 103.11
JOURNAL OF C.C.I.T., VOL.43, NO.2, NOV., 2014

increase relatively more tensile strength.

When the mixture reaches the limit point of
failure, stress is transferred to fibers, which
bridges initial cracks, and the highest fineness
of the P4 fibers ensures that many fibers
bridge crack faces and thus increase tensile
strength by the greatest amount. The result is
consistent with the conclusion of Potrebowski
[13], who indicated that the tensile strength is
directly positive proportional to the number of
fibers spanning crack surfaces. Moreover, the
P4 fibers consist of long and short fibers; the
short fibers can withstand pull-out, while the
long fibers can restrict fracture, and it allows
the specimen against more tensile stress [14].

T: Total crack length (cm) : The summation of length of all

cracks on specimen surface.
R: Reduction in cracks (%)=

Fig.2 Growth of shrinkage cracks in polypropylene

fiber mortar

3.5 Control of Plastic Shrinkage Cracks

. CONCLUSIONS

The upper half of Figure 2 shows plastic

shrinkage cracks in the mortar containing
0.9kg/m3 of the polypropylene fibers. These
images were processed to produce the plastic
shrinkage crack diagrams in the lower half of
the Figure 2. It can be seen that adding any
kind of fiber will significantly reduce the
incidence of plastic shrinkage cracks. Figure 2
sheds further light on the cracking control
ability of the different types of fibers. The P1,
P2, P3, P4 fibers reduced the incidence of
cracks by 83.2%, 85.2%, 78.8%, and 89.7%,
respectively. The ability for crack-resistance
for the tested fibers is close to the conclusion
of Banthia and Gupta[5]. The P4 fibers again
performed the best. Firstly, the P4 fibers have
an indeterminate length of 10mm to 25mm;
the long fibers can arrest the propagating
macro cracks and substantially improve the
toughness, while the short fibers bridge micro
cracks [15]. Secondly, the P4 fibers have
higher level of dispersion and lower level of
hydrophile, which prevent the water bleeding
and provide good bonding, resulting in higher
elastic response of the mortar. Thirdly, the P4
fibers have the highest fineness, so there are a
large number of fibers per unit volume of
mortar. When the mixture begins to harden
and shrink, any tiny cracks will encounter
numerous polypropylene fibers,
which
consume the energy of extension and prevent
the crack from elongating or widening.

The staple fibers with crimp have the best

dispersion, and the degree of dispersion
significantly improves the property of the
mixture. In addition, the content, forms, and
fineness of polypropylene fibers all influence the
flow value, compressive strength, and tensile
strength of polypropylene fiber mortar. The more
the fiber content is, the lower the flow value is,
and the higher the compressive and tensile
strengths increase. The fibrillated fibers made the
most reduction in flow value, while the
monofilament fibers did the least reduction.
For compressive and tensile strengths, the
staple fibers with crimp are the best, followed by
staple fibers, fibrillated fibers, and monofilament
fibers. Taking staple fibers with crimp as an
example, when the fiber content is 0.9kg/m3, the
values increase by 10.3% and 8.6% respectively.
Consequently, all forms of fibers can effectively
block plastic shrinkage cracks and achieve
roughly 80% control of crack in mortar. And is
best performance with 89.7% by staple fibers
with crimp.

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Effect of Different Types of Polypropylene Fibers on the Properties of Mortar

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