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Abstract
Concrete is the most widely used building material in the construction industry. It consists of a rationally chosen mixture of binding material such as cement, well graded fine and coarse aggregates, water and admixtures. Conventional concrete is modified by random dispersion of short discrete fine fibres to improve its mechanical properties. The improvement in structural performance depends on the strength characteristics, volume, spacing, dispersion and orientation, shape and the aspect ratio of the fibres. For fibres to be more effective, each fibre needs to be fully embedded in the matrix, thus cement paste requirement is more. It is relatively strong in compression but weak in tension and tends to be brittle. These two weaknesses have limited its use. Another fundamental weakness of concrete is that cracks start to form as soon as concrete is placed and before it has properly hardened. Glass, fibre, carbon fibres are commonly used in manufacturing of reinforcing bars for concrete applications. This study present the art of knowledge of basalt fibre, it is relatively new material. Basalt is an igneous rock, It is a single material fibre manufactured by melting of basalt and extruding the molten basalt through small nozzles to produce continuous filaments of basalt fibre. It is a high performance non-metallic fibre made from basalt rock melted at high temperature. In the last decade, basalt has emerged as a contender in the fibre reinforcement of composites. In this report Evaluation of mechanical properties in basalt fibre reinforced concrete were investigated. The volume fractions of basalt fibre of (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5% by total mix volume) were used. Properties such as compressive and splitting tensile strengths were examined. Results indicated that the strength increases with increase the fibre content till 0.3% then there is a slight reduction when 0.5% fibre used. The modulus of elasticity shows the trend of the strengths results. Many applications of basalt fibre are residential, industrial, highway and bridges etc.