Experimental research on dynamic mechanical properties of metal tailings porous concrete

Metal tailings porous concrete (MTPC) is a newly-developed green building material that using the iron ore tailings powder to replace the fine sands or partial cement in the conventional foamed concrete. MTPC not only holds good mechanical and physical properties, but also reduces the environmental pollution caused by the disposal of waste metal tailings. This paper systematically investigates the strain rate effect on the dynamic mechanical properties of MTPC. A series of uniaxial compression and direct tension experiments are conducted on the manufactured prismatic MTPC specimens with various strain rates ranging from 10−5/s to 10−2/s. Based on the experimental observations and measured data, the failure modes, stress-strain curves, material strengths, critical strains and modulus of elasticity of MTPC are comprehensively analyzed. Both compression and tension tests show that the strengths and critical strains of MTPC basically increase linearly with strain rate. The compressive and tensile initial tangent modulus of MTPC both remain unchanged at different loading rates, while the compressive secant modulus increases as the strain rate increases. In addition, the analytical dynamic models for MTPC under compression and tension are also presented based on the test data.