A new concrete reinforcement material developed in South Africa for the local and international transportation industry

Abstract

Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 14 - 16 July 2003 "National issues affecting the movement of people and goods - strategic approaches", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. ABSTRACT: Oxyfibre is a new type of surface chemically modified polypropylene fibre used to reinforce and improve the overall properties of concrete materials. The product is the first type of polypropylene fibre with a permanent modified wettable surface in the world and has the international patent in major regions in the world. Oxyfibre is an ideal reinforcement for concrete to improve the cracking resistance, impact resistance, toughness and durability of hardened concrete materials. When using in steel reinforced concrete structures, the fibres in concrete can help to reduce the corrosion rate of the steel reinforcement and thus prolong the service life of the concrete structures. Oxyfibre can be used with all the conventional concrete mixing procedures and mixing ratio. Oxyfibre can be added into concrete via hand mixing, all type of mechanical mixers, ready mix concrete batching plant and ready mix concrete truck. The fibres have found wide applications in construction industry, such as float foundation, concrete floor and pre-cast concrete components, etc. In transportation industries, Oxyfibre has already been successfully used in ordinary concrete road, farm road, parking lot, road side drainage, underground road way in mine and in sprayed concrete for tunnel and shaft lining to prevent rock blasting. In these applications, Oxyfibre is mainly used to replace the steel mesh and thus results in a reduction in material and labour cost.