Effect of Basalt Fiber Content on Seawater Sea Sand Mortar

The concrete industry has been responsible for the large consumption of raw materials, such as limestone, drinkable water, sand, and steel, knowing that the consumption of these materials comes with large economic and environmental costs. Further, transporting fresh water and aggregate increases the overall costs and carbon print, especially for the structures built in remote coastal areas, such as the oil and gas sectors. Therefore, research has been done on finding alternative materials that are less costly or less harmful to the environment. In this work, research is conducted to replace fresh water and normal sand with seawater and sea sand, which raises the problem of reinforcing steel corrosion due to salt ions in the mortar or concrete. In order to solve part of the problem, a novel mix is being introduced in this study to make seawater sea sand mortar (SSSM) reinforced by basalt fibers (BF). These materials are used as alternatives to fresh water, normal sand, and reinforcing steel. Where the materials being replaced are more expensive in most cases, more valuable row materials, have higher carbon print to be manufactured, and are heavily demanded in many industries other than concrete structures, compared with the materials used in this study, knowing that basalt fiber is resistant to corrosion, considered as a green material, and has smaller carbon print compared to other fibers. The behavior and microstructure of (SSSM) with different basalt fiber percentages are studied in this research. Fresh and hardened-state properties, including workability, compressive strength, and flexural strength, were studied for five different BF contents at different ages. The results were compared with a control mortar containing normal sand and potable water. The results are analyzed to test the hypothesis that the basalt fiber should improve the flexural strength of SSSM and to study the effect of other factors on the studied aspects. Applications of such can be used widely in near-coastal areas and on remote shores, lowering logistic costs and less harming the environment.