Analysis of Erosion Characteristics and Erosion Mechanism of Polypropylene Fiber Tailings Recycled Concrete in Salt Spray Environment

Abstract

Economic development and infrastructure improvement will inevitably lead to the accumulation of construction waste and tailings, which has not only a huge impact on the environment but is also a waste of resources. Recycling these resources and making green concrete is an effective way to solve these problems. In this study, the salt spray erosion characteristics and erosion mechanism of tailings recycled concrete (TRC) with polypropylene fibers were studied through macro and micro methods. The results showed that its compressive strength and splitting tensile strength increased at first and then decreased, with the optimum content of 0.6–0.9%, and the strength increase coefficient reached its maximum value at the erosion period being 14 d to 28 d. Under the same erosion cycle, when the fiber content was low (≤0.6–0.9%), the erosion depth hardly fluctuated. While the fiber content changed from 0.6% to 1.2%, the erosion depth and curing ability (erosion for 90 days) increased by 16.29% and 11.20%, which implied that its erosion resistance decreased sharply. Through SEM microscopic analysis, it could be observed that when the fiber content was low, the matrix structure and porosity had little change; while the fiber content was excessive, the porosity increased greatly. The longer the erosion period was, the greater the cumulative expansion of salt crystals was, and the larger the porosity was, whose results were in good agreement with the experimental results. This research provides a significant theoretical basis for the application of TRC in engineering.