Enhanced Ductility and Toughness of Desert Sand Engineered Cementitious Composites

Economical desert sand engineered cementitious composites (DS-ECCs) using a mixture of cement, fly ash, local sand, water, low-cost PVA fibers, and chemical additives were developed, aiming for further enhancement in ductility toughness. The mechanical behavior DS-ECCs two samples (from Mu Us Tengger deserts, China) was determined uniaxial tension/compression tests three-/four-point bending tests. results showed that sand-based ECCs with the designed mix ratios had better properties than river ones. Compared at 28 56 day, presented superior ultimate tensile comparable compression strengths. excellent characterized by strains 3–7% over 1%, respectively. Meanwhile, improved flexural outstanding fracture strengths (4–9 kN 21–30 kN) findings this study will strengthen performance broaden their engineering applicability.