Effect of plastic optical fiber on some properties of translucent concrete

Abstract EN

Translucent concrete is a building material with light-transmitting properties, due to embedded light optical elements in its mixture ; and has the advantage of energy saving in addition to providing nice view to a building.

The present study investigated the use and properties of translucent concrete mixture as a construction material with light admittance.

The work includes two parts : in the first part many trail mixes are designed and tested to produce self-compact mortar (SCM).

Then the obtained mixture is used to prepare a new type of translucent composites with plastic optical fibers POF embedded in the SCM mixture.

The second part investigates some of the mechanical properties of translucent concrete by using three concentration of (POF) and three different diameters.

The tested results indicate that it is possible to use SCM to produce translucent concrete contain plastic optical fiber (POF) with compressive strength between 31.1 to 40.4 MPa and flexural strength between 5.89 to 8.12MPa for different POF volume fraction content and diameter size at 28 days age.