Thermally Activated Shrinkage of Heat-Shrinkable Fibers and Its Influence on Drying Shrinkage and Mechanical Properties of Cement Mortar
6 affiliations
- 1College of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, China
- 2State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing Technologies, Wuhan 430200, China
- 3Poly Changda Engineering Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510510, China
- 4Xinjiang Xiyu Highway Construction Group Co., Ltd., Urumqi 830000, China
- 5School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
- 6Wuhan Municipal Construction Group Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430200, China
Abstract
High-strength concrete applied in mass concrete structures typically features low water-to-binder ratios and high binder contents, resulting in intense hydration heat evolution and pronounced shrinkage deformation; when coupled with its inherently limited tensile strain capacity, the material is highly susceptible to cracking, thereby compromising long-term structural durability. To actively mitigate shrinkage deformation and reduce cracking risk, high-modulus heat-shrinkable fibers were incorporated into cementitious materials. Their thermal shrinkage behavior and the resulting effects on the mechanical properties and shrinkage performance of mortar were systematically investigated. The results showed that the fibers exhibited a pronounced thermally activated shrinkage response within the temperature range of 50–90 °C, with tensile strength exceeding 600 MPa and elastic modulus greater than 9 GPa. The shrinkage ratio increased significantly with temperature and reached 2.80% at 90 °C, corresponding to a maximum calculated recovery stress of 14.79 MPa. Temperature was identified as the dominant factor governing fiber shrinkage behavior, whereas the influence of initial fiber length was negligible. Incorporation of heat-shrinkable fibers effectively enhanced the overall performance of mortar. An optimum fiber length of 12 mm and volume fraction of 0.3% provided the best balance between strength development and shrinkage reduction. Under these conditions, the 28-day flexural and compressive strengths exceeded 12.5 MPa and 75.0 MPa, respectively, while the 28-day drying shrinkage was reduced by 49.5% in the dosage-screening series and by 54.7% in the independent validation series (233 με); the lowest absolute 28-day shrinkage (220 με) was obtained at 0.5% fiber content, but at the cost of flowability and compressive strength. Under steam curing the fibers were activated further and the mortar reached 13.2 MPa and 77.8 MPa; the same regime did not raise the strength of the plain matrix above its standard-cured value. The significant reduction in drying shrinkage and improved flexural behavior is attributed to the combined effects of fiber bridging and thermally induced shrinkage stress. The contraction of activated fibers is inferred to induce localized pre-compressive effects within the matrix, which can help counteract shrinkage-induced tensile stress, thereby reducing the driving force for early-age microcracking.
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BibTeX
@article{zhou2026thermally,
title = {{Thermally Activated Shrinkage of Heat-Shrinkable Fibers and Its Influence on Drying Shrinkage and Mechanical Properties of Cement Mortar}},
author = {Qihang Zhou and Haobing Fu and Ningyang Feng and Tusheng He and Huaqiang Cheng and Jie Chen and Jinhui Li and Zi Yu and Wei Du and Leheng Li and Qingjun Ding},
journal = {Polymers},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3390/polym18212776},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/18/21/2776},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Thermally Activated Shrinkage of Heat-Shrinkable Fibers and Its Influence on Drying Shrinkage and Mechanical Properties of Cement Mortar
AU - Qihang Zhou
AU - Haobing Fu
AU - Ningyang Feng
AU - Tusheng He
AU - Huaqiang Cheng
AU - Jie Chen
AU - Jinhui Li
AU - Zi Yu
AU - Wei Du
AU - Leheng Li
AU - Qingjun Ding
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/06
JO - Polymers
DO - 10.3390/polym18212776
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/18/21/2776
AB - High-strength concrete applied in mass concrete structures typically features low water-to-binder ratios and high binder contents, resulting in intense hydration heat evolution and pronounced shrinkage deformation; when coupled with its inherently limited tensile strain capacity, the material is highly susceptible to cracking, thereby compromising long-term structural durability. To actively mitigate shrinkage deformation and reduce cracking risk, high-modulus heat-shrinkable fibers were incorporated into cementitious materials. Their thermal shrinkage behavior and the resulting effects on the mechanical properties and shrinkage performance of mortar were systematically investigated. The results showed that the fibers exhibited a pronounced thermally activated shrinkage response within the temperature range of 50–90 °C, with tensile strength exceeding 600 MPa and elastic modulus greater than 9 GPa. The shrinkage ratio increased significantly with temperature and reached 2.80% at 90 °C, corresponding to a maximum calculated recovery stress of 14.79 MPa. Temperature was identified as the dominant factor governing fiber shrinkage behavior, whereas the influence of initial fiber length was negligible. Incorporation of heat-shrinkable fibers effectively enhanced the overall performance of mortar. An optimum fiber length of 12 mm and volume fraction of 0.3% provided the best balance between strength development and shrinkage reduction. Under these conditions, the 28-day flexural and compressive strengths exceeded 12.5 MPa and 75.0 MPa, respectively, while the 28-day drying shrinkage was reduced by 49.5% in the dosage-screening series and by 54.7% in the independent validation series (233 με); the lowest absolute 28-day shrinkage (220 με) was obtained at 0.5% fiber content, but at the cost of flowability and compressive strength. Under steam curing the fibers were activated further and the mortar reached 13.2 MPa and 77.8 MPa; the same regime did not raise the strength of the plain matrix above its standard-cured value. The significant reduction in drying shrinkage and improved flexural behavior is attributed to the combined effects of fiber bridging and thermally induced shrinkage stress. The contraction of activated fibers is inferred to induce localized pre-compressive effects within the matrix, which can help counteract shrinkage-induced tensile stress, thereby reducing the driving force for early-age microcracking.
SN - 2073-4360
ER -