Abstract

The effects of nitinol on the ductile performance of fibre reinforced cementitious composites were investigated in this study. Nitinol fibres with two different diameters of 1 mm and 0.5 mm and nitinol powder of diameter 70 nm were used as micro-reinforcement and reactive powders respectively. The test results showed that nitinol powder accelerates the hydration of cement and promotes the nucleation of TiO2 onto C-S-H leading to increased flexural and compressive strength. The nitinol fibre cementitious composite achieved ductilities of 7.3 % and 7.8 % with 1 mm and 0.5 mm nitinol fibres respectively at 28 days of curing. However, the nitinol fibres reinforced cementitious composites were unable to sustain ductilities after 90-days of curing losing nearly half of their ductile potency. On the other hand, nitinol powder achieved ductilities of 2.8 % and 5.6 % at 28 and 90 days of curing, respectively. Nitinol powder showed a potential as a ductile cementitious composite without the use of fibres.