Abstract
To further elucidate the mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced concrete, carbon fiber was added to modify polymeric concrete, and the impact resistance of polymeric concrete reinforced by various contents of carbon fiber was studied. Impact compression test was carried out using a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) test system to investigate the influence of carbon fiber content on the impact resistance of polymeric concrete in terms of the stress-strain curve, strength, deformation characteristics and impact toughness. The results show that with continuous increases in carbon fiber content, the impact resistance of the polymeric concrete first increases and then decreases. When carbon fiber content increases to 0.2%, the dynamic compressive strength of the concrete, as well as the deformation capacity under high strain rate compression load, is at the maximum. Consequently, 0.2% is the optimal content of carbon fiber.
At present, concrete is utilized for most buildings and public infrastructure facilities due to its accessibility, as well as the abundance of raw materials to make it. However, there are some disadvantages of concrete, e.g., low tensile strength, poor impact resistance, and vulnerability to brittle fracture
There have been many studies on the dynamic and static test design methods and relevant theories concerning the performance of ordinary concrete reinforced by CF that achieved excellent results
At present, the studies on carbon fiber reinforced polymeric concrete are limited to the strength, deformation, durability and crack resistance under a static load with few studies investigating the concerns regarding the compressive mechanical properties of dynamic impact. Therefore, in this study, a polymeric latex powder was selected to aid in the dispersion of CF with CF content used as the variable. The reinforced concrete was then tested using a shock compression test, stress-strain curves, dynamic compressive strength test and peak toughness were obtained to further explore the influences of varying CF content on the impact resistance of polymeric concrete.
The primary raw materials used for preparing the modified concrete are as follows: cement, sand, gravel, water, re-dispersible latex powder, CF and aid. For the cement, common Portland cement (P.O) was used, fine aggregate, natural sand from Bahe, coarse aggregate limestone gravel with a particle size of 5-20 mm; common tap water, VINNAPAS® 5044N re-dispersible latex powder manufactured by WACKER CHEMIE AG, Germany(volume fraction: 8%

Fig. 1 Carbon fiber
The mixing process of the investigated concrete involved 6 steps: weighing, fiber dispersion, polymer dispersion, mixing, molding, and curing. The concrete was mixed according to the mix and stir ratios. Followed by loading the mixture into a long cylindrical steel die 2-3 times. To ensure complete contact between the specimen and the rod interface, a cylinder with a diameter of 98 mm was selected. Next, the mixtures were vibrated using a shaking table and a plug-in vibrating rod, then transferred to a room for curing. Then, the die was removed after 1 day and allowed to cure for 28 days under standard conditions. Next, the specimen was taken out and cut into 98 mm×50 mm short cylindrical pieces and the two ends of each piece were polished. Finally, the pieces were clean and dried. The prepared pieces are shown in

Fig. 2 Concrete mold specimen
The mixer used was a HJW-60 single-horizontal shaft forced concrete mixer manufactured by Xi'an County Pengyi Construction Instruments Factory, and the magnetic vibrating table was a HZCT-80 vibrating table for concrete testing manufactured by Xi'an County Yihang Test Instrument Co., Ltd.. Considering that there were some special requirements for the pieces used for the impact compression test, a cutter was used for cutting the specimen after curing. A polisher was used to polish both ends of the concrete pieces.
For the dynamic compression test, a 100 mm SHPB test unit was adopted and depicted in

Fig. 3 SHPB test device
By adjusting the air pressure in the pneumatic pump, several strain rates of the CF reinforced polymeric concrete in the range of 10-1
Stress-strain curves may reflect the mechanical properties of the material.

(a) PC

(b) CF01

(c) CF02

(d) CF03
Fig. 4 Stress-strain curves of CF reinforced polymeric concrete
According to
Impact compression strength refers to the peak stress of specimen. It is an important index characterizing the strength of CF reinforced polymeric concrete under an impact load. The influence of the average strain rate on the impact compression strength of polymeric concrete with different CF content is shown in

(a) Dynamic compressive strength

(b) Static compressive strength
Fig. 5 Compression strength of CFRP concrete
According to Fig.
The Dynamic Increase Factor (DIF)
Where is the dynamic strength of concrete specimen, is the static strength of the concrete specimen, respectively.
The static compressive strength of different contents of the CF reinforced polymeric concrete pieces is shown in Fig. 5 (b) and the DIF of the concrete pieces can be calculated based on these parameters. The relationship between DIF and the average Log strain rate for the groups of pieces is shown in

Fig. 6 DIF and fitting diagram of CF reinforced polymer concrete specimens
Since the DIF of concrete with the same CF content increased linearly with the average Log strain rate, i.e., lg , the DIF is expressed as:
Where k and b are constants for the material, which are related to the content of CF (
According to Fig.
In order to further characterize the deformation of the concrete pieces, the peak strain, i.e., the strain corresponding to the peak stress under the impact compression load was plotted. The effect of the average strain rate on the peak strain of polymeric concrete with different CF contents is shown in

Fig. 7 Influence of average strain rate on the peak strain of CFRP concrete
As shown in Fig.
The toughness of concrete is a comprehensive index for the material's ductility and strength, thus representing the material's ability to absorb the deformation force when they are deformed. Macroscopically, toughness refers to the capacity of the material to absorb energy during loading process until damage occurs. In the impact compression test performed on concrete, peak toughness is used as an index for the impact toughness of the concrete. Peak toughness refers to the area enclosed by the stress-strain curve and the coordinate axes before the peak stress of the material appears.
Regarding the groups of concrete pieces, the peak toughness was obtained by integrating the stress-strain curve before the appearance of the peak stress within the CF reinforced polymeric concrete. The influence of the average strain rate on the peak toughness of polymeric concrete within different CF contents is shown in

Fig. 8 Influence of average strain rate on peak toughness of CFRP modified concrete
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe the microscopic morphology of CF and the polymeric concrete pieces. The results are shown in

Fig.9 Microscopic images of CF reinforced polymeric concrete
The impact resistance of CF reinforced polymeric concrete primarily depends upon the concrete matrix. However, the addition of CF and re-dispersible latex powder may effectively improve the impact resistance of composite concrete.
Relevant studies have shown that the bond between the fiber and the cement matrix is not sufficient to improve the effects of the fiber significantly; however, the re-dispersible latex powder made from a polymer emulsion via spraying and drying, after mixing with water, may form a stable polymer emulsion again. The addition of re-dispersible latex powder to the mortar can improve the mortar's compressive strength, flexural strength, deformation performance and bonding performance. Therefore, the concrete containing CF and re-dispersible latex powder may be added to promote the bonding between the CF and the cement matrix. The primary mechanism is as follows: Latex powder can form an emulsion in water, and during the mixing process of the concrete, the emulsion may be dispersed evenly in the concrete. Furthermore, with the hydration of the cement, a polymer membrane may be formed between the polymer particles. Therefore, some of the emulsion will form a three-dimensional stereoscopic structure between the CF and the cement, thus strengthening the bond between cement hydrate and CF
The influence of CF content on the impact resistance of the polymeric concrete specimens can be analyzed by the following three aspects: First, the addition of CF may reduce the cracks within the specimens during the water loss and shrinkage stage, thus alleviating the specimen damage at the initial stage. Second, when the specimen cracks are due to external forces, the added CF in the concrete that is bonded to the matrix might aggregate across the fracture. Thus, transferring the stress from both ends of the crack consume a part of the external energy, crack development is delayed and inhibited. Third, the actual dispersion conditions of the fiber in the concrete need to be considered. Excessive CF may cause a degradation effect within the material. Therefore, the impact resistance of the concrete cannot be improved simply by increasing the CF content. However, the optimal CF content should be determined during its practical applications.
This test was carried out using a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) test system with a diameter of 100 mm to explore the effects of CF content on the impact resistance of polymeric concrete. The influence of CF content on the performance of polymeric concrete under impact loads was discussed based on the stress-strain curve, strength, deformation characteristics, toughness, as well as the microscopic morphology. Furthermore, a mechanism analysis on CF reinforced polymeric concrete was conducted. The main conclusions are as follows:
1) With the increase of CF content, the dynamic strength of CF reinforced polymeric concrete first increased and then decreased, thus, having a significant enhancement effect on the strain rate. When CF content was approximately 0.2%, the impact strength of concrete specimen was at a maximum.
2) The addition of CF to the polymeric concrete effectively improved the impact toughness of the CF reinforced polymeric concrete. When the average strain rate was 40-100
3) A microscopic analysis show that a large amount of CF causes fiber agglomeration, thus compromising the impact resistance of the polymeric concrete.
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