Micro- and nanostructural investigations of high and ultra-high performance concrete under fatigue

• Analytical methods to investigate UHPC fatigue damage processes were evaluated. • Cyclic compression loading was performed, S min = 0.05, S max = 0.75, f cm = 170.2 MPa. • Fatigue under these conditions is dominated by alterations on the nano-scale. • The applicability of methods to investigation fatigue damage are described. A fine-grained UHPC, both undamaged and damaged by fatigue loading, was comparatively examined by various microstructural analytical methods, to evaluate the different techniques with respect to their applicability and relevance for the investigation of fatigue damage processes. The fatigue tests were stopped at the transition from phase II to phase III of the s-shaped strain development. The cyclic compression loading was performed with a frequency of f t = 1 Hz, and a stress level between S min = 0.05 and S max = 0.75 (f cm = 170.2 MPa). The fatigue process under these loading conditions is dominated by alterations and damages on the nano-scale, that can be observed by transmission electron microscopy. The resulting coarsening of the pore structure was also visible with dynamic vapor sorption. Nanoindentation indicates, that changes of the HD-C-S-H-phase occur. IR spectroscopy also indicates changes of the C-S-H phase and thermal analysis changes of the water content. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) gave insight into the complex Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio changes. The acoustic emission technique gives information on the different processes during the single phases of fatigue and reveal a very different damage behaviour of dry and moist materials. Some microcracks are visible with light microscopy. It appears, that the number of cracks after fatigue is higher than before. With X-ray computed tomography, X-ray powder diffraction, the drying behaviour, the free water uptake, the water uptake under vacuum and by mercury intrusion porosimetry no significant differences between specimens with and without fatigue loading could be observed in this examination.