Study on the performances of fire-resistive engineered cementitious composites (ECCs)

The high ductility of fire-resistive engineered cementitious composites (ECC) makes it possess better cohesive performance than the traditional cement-based fireproof material, and improves the cracking and delamination between the fireproof material and the substrate material. In this paper, the tensile and compression properties, dry density, heat insulation properties, and high temperature resistance of the prepared fire-resistive ECC materials were systematically studied, and the heat transfer behavior in the heating process was studied by means of small-scale fire resistance test. The results demonstrate that the prepared fire-resistive ECC materials possess both the favorable thermal insulation properties and adequate mechanical properties. Meanwhile, compared with traditional cementitious fireproof materials, better high temperature stability of prepared fire-resistive ECC avoids the failure due to the deterioration of mechanical properties during heating process. Then the reduction of temperature rising rate and equilibrium temperature shown in small-scale fire resistance experiments verifies that it can effectively improve the fire performance of the structure under actual fire. Finally, with the help of microscopic experiments the action mechanism of the porous fillers on the ductility and fire performance of fire-resistive ECC materials were explored.