Microstructural analysis of the adhesion mechanism between old concrete substrate and UHPFC

The performance of any repaired concrete structure, and thus its service life, depends on the quality of the interfacial transition zone of the composite system formed by the repair material and the existing concrete substrate. In this work, the properties of the interfacial transition zone between normal concrete (NC) substrate as an old concrete and ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFC) as a repair material was investigated. Pull-off and splitting cylinder tensile tests were performed to quantify the bond strength in direct and indirect tensions, respectively. The microstructure of the interfacial transition zone was also studied using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). Different types of NC substrate surface preparation methods were used. An optical three-dimensional surface metrology device was used to estimate the substrate roughness parameters. Based on the results, high interfacial bond strength was achieved on the 3rd, 7th, and 28th days. The pull-off test results revealed that all failures occurred in the substrate, regardless of the substrate surface roughness. The majority of failures in the split tensile test also occurred in the substrate. SEM/EDS proved that the use of UHPFC as a repair material chemically, physically, and mechanically improved the repaired interfacial transition zone to become stronger and denser, as well as more uniform, and durable. Moreover, the use of UHPFC increased the service life of repaired structures and minimized the number and extent of interventions to the lowest possible level.