Open Access

ARTICLE

Hybrid Effect of Steel Fiber and Rubber Powder on Freeze-Thaw Resistance and Pore Structure of Concrete

Wenwen Hu¹, Xinzhan Li², Tao Luo^2,*, Li Li²

1 Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Safety and Durability of Concrete Structures, Xijing University, Xi’an, China
2 College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

* Corresponding Author: Tao Luo. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Infrastructure Resilience Enhancement Empowered by Intelligent Perception and Advanced Algorithms)

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring 2026, 20(3), 8 https://doi.org/10.32604/sdhm.2026.077120

Received 02 December 2025; Accepted 28 January 2026; Issue published 18 May 2026

Abstract

This study experimentally investigates the Hybrid Effect of Steel Fiber (SF) and Recycled Rubber Powder (RRP) on Freeze-Thaw (F-T) Resistance and Pore Structure of Concrete. With respect to the mechanical properties of Steel Reinforced Concrete (SRC) before and after F-T cycles, the mixture incorporating 1.5% SF and 10% RRP achieves the optimal performance, exhibiting a distinct positive hybrid effect with the γ of the tensile-to-compressive strength ratio of 1.427. The synergistic interaction between SF and RRP preserves the compressive strength and significantly enhances the tensile performance of SRC. Meanwhile, it alleviates the degradation of mechanical properties to a certain extent during 100–200 F-T cycles, enabling effective control over the mass loss and elastic modulus loss of SRC. Results from pore structure analysis reveal that SF and RRP exhibit a distinct negative hybrid effect on the porosity of SRC—a phenomenon that indicates the filling effect of RRP contributes to enhanced compactness of the concrete matrix.

---

Keywords

---