Highly ductile behavior and sustainability of engineered cementitious composites reinforced by PE based selvage fibers

Although the properties of selvage are identical to those of fabric, the use of selvage is still fairly limited. In the present study, the compressive strength and tensile behavior of engineered cementitious composites (ECCs) reinforced by polyethylene (PE) filament-based selvage short fibers were investigated. Three methods for processing selvages into short fibers were also proposed. Using the three methods, three types of selvage short fibers were fabricated, and a total of four ECCs were then manufactured using the three selvage short fibers along with a normal PE short fiber. Compressive strength and tension tests were performed. The test results showed that while the compressive strength was not significantly affected by the type of selvage short fiber, the tensile strength and tensile strain capacity were found to highly depend on the fiber types. Material sustainability indicators indicated that ECC using selvage short fibers has high sustainability.