article · European Journal of Environmental and Civil engineering
Conventional concrete often uses steel fibres for reinforcement, but steel increases weight, corrodes easily, and demands significant material volumes. A potential substitute is newly developed wavy macro-basalt fibre, tested across fifteen concrete mixtures alongside steel fibres and chopped basalt fibres. The evaluation examined workability, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, and shear capacity, focusing on aspect ratios of 36 and 60. While higher fibre dosages reduced workability across all designs, fibres with an aspect ratio of 60 delivered superior mechanical gains. This variant improved splitting tensile strength by 70 percent at 28 days over plain concrete. Furthermore, it matched the flexural strength of steel fibres while using approximately 70 percent less fibre content, and enhanced shear strength by 20 percent using over half the fibre volume of steel.
Steel reinforcement in concrete structures suffers from corrosion and adds substantial dead weight. Demonstrating that wavy basalt fibres can match or exceed steel fibre performance while using substantially less material offers a pathway towards lighter, more durable, and corrosion-resistant concrete structures.
This technology could interest concrete manufacturers, civil engineering contractors, and structural material suppliers seeking corrosion-resistant alternatives to steel fibres. The findings indicate an applied laboratory stage, where novel wavy macro-basalt fibres have been tested across standard mechanical metrics. Commercial adoption would enable lighter precast elements and structural concrete requiring lower fibre volumes, though broader field testing and production scaling would be needed to move beyond experimental batches.
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Steel fibres are widely used to improve the mechanical performance of concrete but are associated with high density, corrosion susceptibility and increased material demand. This study experimentally evaluates the effectiveness of newly developed wavy macro-basalt fibres as an alternative reinforcement for structural concrete. Fifteen concrete mixes incorporating steel fibres, chopped basalt fibres and wavy macro-basalt fibres with aspect ratios of 36 and 60 were prepared. Workability, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and shear strength were evaluated. The results showed that workability decreased with increasing fibre dosage for all fibre types. At 7 days, all fibres improved compressive strength, whereas MBF60 maintained or slightly improved the 28-day strength. MBF60 achieved the greatest improvement in splitting tensile strength, reaching 93% and 70% above the control concrete at 7 and 28 days, respectively. It also increased flexural strength by 22%, matching steel fibres while requiring approximately 70% less fibre content. In shear, MBF60 achieved a 20% strength increase using over 50% less fibre content than steel fibres. The findings demonstrate that fibre geometry and aspect ratio strongly influence reinforcement efficiency, and that wavy macro-basalt fibre, particularly MBF60, provides a corrosion-resistant and mechanically efficient alternative for structural concrete applications.
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DOI: 10.1080/19648189.2026.2726508
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