Bendable concrete also known as Short Cement Compounds as ECC is a class of cementitious compounds reinforced with ultra-ductile fiber, characterized by high ductility and tight crack width control. This material is capable of exhibiting considerably improved flexibility. An ECC has a deformation capacity of more than 3% and therefore acts more like a ductile metal rather than as a brittle glass. A flexible concrete is reinforced with micro-mechanically designed polymer fibers. This work evaluates the literature on the fresh and mechanical properties of different ECC mixtures incorporating supplementary cementitious material, ie fly ash and different types of aggregates considering different parameters, ie types of fibers, compressive strength, resistance To bending and deflection.
The engineered cement composite (ECC), also called curved concrete, is an easily molded mortar compound reinforced with specially selected short random fibers, usually polymer fibers. Unlike regular concrete, ECC has a deformation capacity in the range of 3-7% compared to 0.01% for ordinary portland cement (OPC). Therefore, ECC acts more like a ductile metal than as a brittle glass (as does OPC concrete), which results in a wide variety of applications.
ECC, unlike common fiber reinforced concrete, is a family of micromechanical design material. While a cement material is designed / developed based on the theory of micromechanics and fracture mechanics to present extensive extensive ductility, it can be called an ECC. Therefore, ECC is not a fixed material design, but a wide range of topics at different stages of research, development and implementations. The ECC family of materials is expanding. The development of an individual ECC mix design requires special efforts by systematically engineering the material on nano, micro, macro and composite scales.
ECC resembles ordinary portland cement concrete, except that it can be deformed (or bent) under tension. A number of research groups are developing ECC science, including those at the University of Michigan, University of California, Irvine, Delft University of Technology, University of Tokyo, Czech Technical University, University of British Columbia and University Of Stanford. The lack of durability and failure of traditional concrete, both because of brittle behavior, have been a push factor in the development of ECC.