Self-healing of Engineered Cementitious Composites at Two Different Maturity Levels

Abstract

While there are numerous studies in the literature about the application of maturity method to ordinary concrete, strength development mechanism of Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) and its effect on self-healing behavior have not been studied in the light of maturity concept. This study aims to apply the maturity method on standard ECC mixture and to compare the self-healing behavior of ECC specimens matured at two different levels. Based on this purpose, datum temperature for temperature–time factor calculation was determined for the standard ECC mixture and maturity indices corresponding to 28 days and 365 days age were calculated. Self-healing assessments of the specimens at low and high maturity levels were carried out by considering the recovery of flexural strengths and ultrasonic pulse velocities and crack closure by visual inspection. In general, it is observed that although ECC exhibits self-healing when the cracks are formed at high maturity level, as the maturity level increases, self-healing capacity of ECC shows some decrement.