Construction and Building Materials 315 (2022) 125623

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

A review on cement-based materials used in steel structures as

fireproof coating
Xiaomeng Ma a, Jinlong Pan a, *, Jingming Cai a, Zhuoyang Zhang b, Jinsheng Han a
a
Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, PR China
b
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, PR China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Cement-based materials used as fireproof coatings exhibit favorable thermal insulation and anti-spalling prop­
Cement-based composites erties as well as adequate residual mechanical properties after elevated temperature, which are promising on the
Fireproof coating fields of structural fire-resistance applications and occupy price advantage. Based on these three types of per­
Porous fillers
formances, this paper was intended to review various corresponding influencing factors and relevant theories of
Spalling resistance
Residual mechanical properties
this type of materials. The effects of various porous fillers on thermal insulation performance were investigated
Theory study and it is suggested that the porous fillers with pozzolanic reactivity deserve to be utilized. The influences of fibers
on spalling resistance performance were analyzed. Also, the effect of fly ash on residual mechanical properties
after elevated temperatures was summarized and the analyses showed that other solid wastes produced after
calcination have the potential to be added for improving residual mechanical properties. Then, various con­
duction theories and corresponding analytical models for predicting effective thermal conductivity and different
anti-spalling mechanisms of fibers were listed. Based on the analysis, the remaining challenges of development of
cement-based fire-resistive coatings were finally discussed.

1. Introduction which has the potential to be used as fire-resistive materials after

Steel structure is extensively used in engineering buildings such as
houses, bridges and tunnels owing to its excellent characteristics, for
instance light weight, high strength, favorable seismic performance,
convenient to construct and environmentally-friendly [1]. However, the
steel structure is vulnerable under fire hazard or secondary fire hazard
after earthquake or impact, which means steel will lose its stiffness and
strength quickly under elevated temperature, even finally leads to severe
structural damage and collapse [2,3]. According to EN-1993–1-2 [1],
the strength of steel at 550–600 ◦ C is only 50% of that at ambient
temperature. Considering of the requirements of fire safety, steel
structures are essential to be properly protected. Currently, the
commonly used measure is to use insulation materials with low thermal
conductivity to delay the temperature rise in structure and prevent fire
induced structural failures, such as insulation boards, intumescent
fireproof materials and cement-based fire-resistive materials, among
which the cement-based fire-resistive materials is the most usual
method.
As a type of thermally inert material, cement-based material has low
thermal conductivity, incombustibility and does not swell under heat
essential modification and optimization. For cement-based materials
when it is subjected to high temperature, the mechanical properties
deteriorate dramatically. More seriously, a sudden and rapid brittle
failure mode occurs, named spalling [4]. Except spalling, it will also be
deteriorated due to the decomposition of hydration products. The
evaporation of water vapor and decomposition of hydration products in
cement at high temperature is shown as Fig. 1. In the case of elevated
heating conditions, micro cracks caused evaporation of the interlayer
Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) water [4]. When heated up to the
range of 400℃-600℃, the pore in matrix will completely desiccate, and
then the hydration products will decompose and C-S-H gels will destruct
[5]. During post cooling, the lime conversed from calcium hydroxide
will even be expanded [5].
Considering of the above mentioned deterioration, corresponded
improving methods were investigated by numerous researchers. It was
found that by adding inorganic porous fillers such as vermiculite,
perlite, fly ash cenosphere (FAC) [6,7], hollow glass beads (GB) [8],
aerogels [9], expanded polystyrene (EPS) particles [10] or using
microcapsule phase change materials [11] or composite phase change
materials [12], Porous cement-based materials possess excellent thermal

* Corresponding author at: Department of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, PR China.
E-mail address: cejlpan@seu.edu.cn (J. Pan).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.125623
Received 18 June 2021; Received in revised form 28 October 2021; Accepted 7 November 2021
Available online 20 November 2021
0950-0618/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
X. Ma et al.
insulation properties due to their extreme porous structure and reduce
their volume-weight. Considering of the occurrence of spalling, which is
a sudden and rapid brittle failure mode [13], fibers are considered to be
utilized. The addition of short fibers such as polypropylene fibers (PP
fibers) [14], water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol fibers (PVA fibers) [15],
and steel fibers [16] contributes to the improvement of inherent high-
temperature spalling performance, which guarantees the integrity of
fireproof coating during the fire process, so as to effectively isolated the
base material from the fire source. Moreover, the calcined products at
high-temperature such as fly ash, blast furnace slag, bottom ash, etc.
exhibit excellent thermal stability. The addition of the mentioned
calcination results in a pronounced improvement both of the thermal
and mechanical properties of cement-based materials after high tem­
perature, and is also instrumental in enhancing the fire resistance limit
of structure.
Unlike the traditional intumescent fireproof coatings, Portland
cement-based fire-resistive coatings have such properties as anti-aging,
anti-cracking and anti-swelling when exposed to water. Moreover, the
applied simple and flexible spraying method of cement-based materials
significantly shortens the installation time and therefore lowers the
construction and repairing cost [17,18]. Compared with insulation
fireproof board, cement-based fireproof coating can be applied to pro­
duce irregularly shaped components. Moreover, this kind of refractory
material will not produce poisonous gases, which is beneficial to reduce
the casualties during the fire and rescue process. Therefore, the devel­
opment and application of cement-based fireproof materials have
attracted more and more researchers’ attention. The comparisons of
three commonly used fire protection measures are listed in Table 1.
According to the above-mentioned advantages and characteristics,
the cement-based fire-resistive materials are promising in the fields of
structural fire-resistance applications. However, to guarantee adequate
fire resistance performance, cement-based fire-resistive materials should
exhibit favorable thermal insulation and anti-spalling properties and
also be required to possess relatively high residual mechanical proper­
ties after elevated temperature. Based on these three types of perfor­
mances, the paper at hand reviewed various corresponding influencing
factors and relevant theories of cement-based fire-resistive materials.
The discussion to follow was focused on investigating the effects of
different fillers, i.e., FACs, GBs, aerogels and phase change materials, on
thermal insulating performance; analyzing the influences of various fi­
bers on thermal spalling resistance performance; summarizing the
improving effect of fly ash on residual mechanical properties after high
temperature; and then listing various heat transfer mechanisms and
different mechanisms of spalling resistance. Finally, the challenges faced
in the development and applications of cement-based materials to be
used in structural fire protection were analyzed.
Fig. 1. Water evaporation and decomposition of hydration products at elevated temperature.
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Construction and Building Materials 315 (2022) 125623
2. Effect of porous fillers on thermal insulating performance
2.1. Inorganic porous fillers
2.1.1. Fly ash cenospheres
FAC is the multifunctional hollow spherical particle extracted from
fly ash, which is light-weight and with excellent properties such as high
strength, sound insulation, thermal insulation, fire resistance and ther­
mally stable [19]. Shown as the scanning electron microscopic (SEM)
imagery given in Fig. 2, the containing inert gas is blocked by the thin
shell and forms a closed pore structure inside the matrix. Hence the heat
loss through air circulation is avoided and finally contributes greatly to
the improvement of material insulation performance. Meanwhile,
similar to the phase composition of fly ash (shown as Fig. 3), the main
phases of FAC are mullite and quartz. Due to the presence of lime and
amorphous silica, FACs may possess a certain degree of potential
pozzolanic activity as mentioned in the study of Wang et al. [20]. At the
same time, Hanif et al. [19] studied the pozzolanic reactivity of FAC
with different particle sizes and quantitatively analyzed the activity
degree of FAC, which further proves that it can be used to prepare high-
strength lightweight concrete materials.
Montgomery and Diamond et al. [22] studied the properties of FAC
and first added it into cement mortar to prepare light-weight concrete
with fire resistance property. Until 2000, Blanco [6] first studied the
thermal property of FAC containing cement composites (FACCs).
Meanwhile, based on the proposed powder-packing theory, the grada­
tion of FAC particles was optimized and lightweight cement composite
with thermal conductivity of 0.36–0.50 W/(m*K) was developed by
manufacturing different concrete specimens with different FAC particles
sizes and different granulometric fractions. Experimental results showed
that the thermal conductivity of concrete decreases with the reduction of
FAC particle size. The reasons might be the decreasing of gas heat ra­
diation inside particles and the weakening of heat transfer effect caused
by heat convection, which are resulted from the smaller particle size as
well as the smaller gap between adjacent particles [23]. At the same
time, an obvious exponential correlation was found between the thermal
conductivity and the bulk density of cement composite [6]. The impact
on the thermal conductivity of cement-based materials was also influ­
enced by the change of FAC dosage, the higher FAC content resulted in a
better thermal insulation performance of cement-based materials [7]. A
possible explanation to the resulted enhancement of insulation perfor­
mance is the relatively small value of thermal conductivity of FAC,
which is approximately 0.065 W/(m* K) [24], only about 1.5% of the
thermal conductivity of sand [25]. Considering of the smaller density,
uniform distribution, stable particle shape and more excellent insulation
performance of FAC compared to fly ash [26], Wu [27] used FACs as
artificial prefabricated holes to prepare the ultra-light cement-based
X. Ma et al. Construction and Building Materials 315 (2022) 125623

Table 1
Comparison of three types of fire protection measures.
Produce irregularly shaped components Release poisonous gases Water-swelling Anti-aging Construction cost

Insulation boards Incapable Incapable – – Moderate

Intumescent fireproof materials Capable Capable Capable Incapable Highest
Cement-based fire-resistive materials Capable Incapable Incapable Capable Lowest

Fig. 4. Mechanical and thermal properties of porous cementitious composites

reported in literature.

cement-based materials is beneficial to the reuse of industrial solid waste

Fig. 2. SEM scanning images of FACs [21].
to a considerable degree. At the same time, it also effectively improves
the mechanical properties and the toughness of refractory cement-based
materials. Under this circumstance, the field of developing cement-
based materials with low thermal conductivity, high ductility, high
strength and light weight by single-doped FAC [6,27,32], mixed FAC
and PVA fibers [7,33], mixed FAC and aerogels [33], etc. has gained
more attention from researchers. However, same with the other indus­
trial waste, the shape and properties of FACs are unstable. The relatively
rough and non-spherical shape leads to a worse workability of FACCs,
which could further affect the homogeneity of matrix.

2.1.2. Hollow glass beads

GB is a spherical inorganic glassy mineral material with a hollow
structure and a smooth surface (shown as Fig. 5). Due to its light weight,
low thermal conductivity, excellent mechanical properties, favorable
sound and heat insulation properties, thermal stability under high

Fig. 3. XRD pattern of FACs.

material with thermal conductivity of only 0.30 W/(m*K). And the study
showed that the addition of FACs leads to desirably low density of
cement-based materials but without significantly reduction of mechan­
ical strength simultaneously as compared to the other conventional
lightweight aggregates (such as expanded perlite [28], waste glass
[29,30], expanded shale [31], etc.).
The density, thermal conductivity and compressive strength of
cement-based composites incorporated with FACs, GBs and aerogels as
reported by various researchers are summarized in Fig. 4. Obviously,
thermal conductivity is positively correlated to dry density, while the
correlation between thermal conductivity and compressive strength is
negative. However, varied with GBs and aerogels, FACCs exhibit ultra-
lightweight and extremely low thermal conductivity, which are all
lower than 0.4 W/(m*K), and relatively high compressive strength,
which are generally larger than 30 MPa.
In conclusion, utilization of FAC in the field of preparing refractory
Fig. 5. SEM scanning images of GBs [35].

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X. Ma et al. Construction and Building Materials 315 (2022) 125623

temperature, and superior fire resistance, it is widely used in the field of

energy saving and fire protection construction [8]. The main chemical
components of GB are SiO2 and Al2O3, which are capable to quickly
react with Ca(OH)2 generated from cement hydration to form calcium
silicate hydrate, which is beneficial to improve the durability of cement-
based materials. Compared with the industrial waste FAC, the shape of
GB is more spherical and smoother, water absorption is lower and no
obvious stress concentration generates at the interface between GB and
matrix [34].
The heat transfer process of GB containing insulation cement-based
composites is very complicated, normally the effective thermal con­
ductivity (ETC) keff is used to characterize its heat transfer property.
Studies showed that the ETC of this type of material decreases almost
linearly with the increase of volume fraction of GB [35-38], indicating
that the incorporation of GB will reduce the thermal conductivity of
cement-based composites, and finally resulting in an enhancement of
insulation performance. When exposed to fire, GB containing cement-
based composite relies on its low thermal conductivity to delay heat
transfer, thereby the occurrence of supporting structure destruction will
be delayed and will gain more time for fire and rescue. Chung et al. [39]
Fig. 6. SEM scanning images of Aerogel [44].
analyzed the spatial distribution of voids in GB containing concrete by
using micro computed tomography (CT), which further confirmed the
And the stability of aerogel particles during the hydration process was
effect of GB on the thermal insulation of materials. Unlike other physical
also proved by microscopical analysis. Currently, Yang et al. [46]
properties, the particle size distribution of GBs has no significant influ­
compared the prepared aerogel thermal insulation layer with the
ence on the thermal conductivity of composite. When the volume frac­
traditional thermal insulation layer and observed that the indoor tem­
tion is constant, the ETC of cement-based composite only slightly
perature fluctuation and heat flux of the aerogel insulation layer were
reduces with the increasing of GB particle size [35]. Pancar et al. [40]
reduced almost 40% than that of the convention one.
measured and compared the top and bottom surface temperature of GB
However, due to the extremely low density and hydrophobicity of
containing and non-GB concrete pavements, and identified that using
aerogel particles, they are easily to be floated during mixing process,
GB in concrete mix design effectively decreases the temperature
which results in a severe segregation of aerogel-incorporated cement-
gradient, decreases the risk of thermal cracking and finally increases the
based composite [47]. Kim et al. [48] found that the incorporation of
service life of the concrete pavement, which further illustrated the
methanol facilitates the thorough mixing of silica aerogel particles and
improvement of GB on insulation performance.
cement particles. Recently, Xu et al. [49] solved the problem of
In comparation with traditional thermal insulation materials, the
dispersing and mixing of aerogel particles by bonding nano-aerogel
materials with fire resistance are required to possess both excellent
particles to polymer fibers.
insulation properties and high temperature resistance. Studies revealed
Nevertheless, compared to FAC and GB, the hydrophobic aerogel
that the incorporation of GB contributes to reduce the extent of damage
particles are difficult to be uniformly dispersed in the matrix, even
after exposing to elevated temperature, but the damage mechanism after
gather together and form an agglomeration in the matrix. Another
high temperature of GB containing concrete is resemble to the ordinary
typical drawback of aerogel is its high manufacture cost, which also
concrete [41].
restraint its application in the field of cement-based materials.
As a whole, adding GB into cement-based composite can effectively
reduce the thermal conductivity and improve the residual mechanical
properties after exposing to fire. However, due to the significant weak­ 2.2. Phase change materials
ening effect on the mechanical properties, the application of GB con­
taining concrete is greatly restricted (shown as Fig. 4) [36,37]. In addition to using inorganic porous fillers to improve the thermal
insulation property of cement-based materials, recently, phase change
2.1.3. Aerogel material (PCM) has shown great potential to be used in producing
Aerogel is a highly porous nanomaterial synthesized by sol–gel thermal energy storage cement-based materials because of its high latent
processes and contains inert gas (volume of air void: 94%-99%). Due to heat storage, favorable chemical stability and thermal behavior over
its highly porous structure (shown as Fig. 6), it has some advantages, for time and phase change capabilities at various temperatures [50]. Nor­
instance perfect thermal insulation, high porosity, and low density mally, PCM can be encapsulated into a cement matrix to prevent it from
(3–100 kg/m3) as well as favorable fire and acoustic resistance [42]. As a leaking during the solid–liquid phase transition process. The principle of
super insulation material, the thermal conductivity of aerogel at the enhanced effect on insulation property is simple: when the phase
ambient temperature and pressure may lies within 0.003–0.02 W/ change materials change its phase from solid to liquid, extra heat is
(m*K), compared to 0.026 W/(m*K) and 0.033 of air and EPS particles, absorbed [51]. According to different encapsulating methods, PCM can
respectively. These characteristics make aerogel a more suitable filler for be divided into microencapsulated PCM and composite PCM. The
thermal insulating concrete in comparation with FAC and GB [43]. microstructure of PCMs was shown in Fig. 7.
The concrete prepared by adding aerogel particles exhibits extremely
low thermal conductivity. The porous structure caused by the incorpo­ 2.2.1. Microencapsulated phase change materials, mPCM
ration of aerogel minimizes the heat conduction and convection heat The mPCM consists of an outer thin spherical shell and a core (active)
transfer. Rakte [9] first used aerogel to produce fire-resistant concrete material, which is wrapped in the center. It exhibits excellent thermo-
with a protection level of class F120 and showed extraordinary perfor­ physical stability and phase change properties [53]. In recent years, it
mance. Gao et al. [45] replaced sand with silica aerogel of 60% volume has been added to prepare thermal insulation cement-based materials.
fraction to produce concrete. It was found that the dry density and Hunger et al. [11] mixed mPCM directly with the cement paste, and
thermal conductivity of the prepared concrete were greatly reduced found that the incorporation of mPCM significantly reduced the thermal
(shown as Fig. 3) and its thermal conductivity was only 0.26 W/ (m*K). conductivity and dramatically increased the specific heat capacity,

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X. Ma et al. Construction and Building Materials 315 (2022) 125623

mechanical strength loss of concrete containing cPCM is quite smaller

[66]. Ramakrishnan et al. [67] conducted a thermal inertia test on cPCM
modified cement-based composite panels and it showed that the peak
heat flux inside the cPCM panel was reduced by nearly 37%. Sutta­
phakdee et al. [68] tested the temperature change of the top panel of a
house constructed with cPCM modified concrete, and found that the use
of cPCM panels is beneficial to reduce the temperature fluctuations.
Similar to mPCM, for the application of cPCM in the field of building
materials, many aspects are still necessary to be investigated, for
instance, the methods to improve latent heat, phase transition temper­
ature, and material thermal conductivity. Thereby develop a new type of
cPCM-incorporated composite with better thermal properties.
In general, PCM can be used to produce lightweight cement-based
materials with favorable mechanical properties and thermal insulation
properties. However, the unstable of the durability of PCMs after
encapsulation are still required to be investigated and solved [38]. At
the same time, the high cost and complicated encapsulating methods
also limited the widely use of this kind of material in the field of civil
engineering. Compared with using PCMs, the application of porous
lightweight fillers can balance the requirement of adequate mechanical
properties and excellent thermal properties of cement-based materials
Fig. 7. SEM scanning images of PCM [52].
more flexible.
To sum up, the above-mentioned fillers all can lead to a great
which contributed to effectively improving the thermal properties of
improvement of insulation properties, Table 2 shows the basic proper­
concrete. However, due to the low strength and low rigidity, the shell of
ties of different fillers. Meanwhile the corresponding advantages and
mPCM usually damaged during preparation, which leads to a decreasing
disadvantages of each type of fillers are also summarized. Considering of
trend of both the mechanical and thermal properties of PCM-concrete
the different cost, mechanical strength loss, difficulties during mixing
[11,52]. By comparing different methods for the PCMs incorporation,
process and complexity of encapsulation process, the filler type must be
Meshgin et al. [54] found that the sand substitution method can effec­
properly chosen and used to satisfy both the desired insulation re­
tively reduce the loss of material mechanical properties. According to
quirements and required mechanical performances.
the results of Difference Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analysis, Pavlik
et al. [55-57] observed that the incorporation of mPCM was beneficial to
3. Effect of fibers on spalling resistance performance
a remarkable increasing of heat storage capacity, which is of great
importance to the moderation of interior environment by limiting
3.1. Single-doped polymer fiber
temperature fluctuations. Moreover, the amounts of saved energy were
calculated and it was observed that the addition of mPCM is beneficial
As a commonly used reinforcing material in the field of cement-based
for the improvement of energy performance of room [58]. Zhang et al.
composite materials, polymer fiber possesses an excellent inhibitory
[59] integrated mPCM-modified concrete slabs into the walls of the
effect on the occurrence of early cracks and the occurrence and devel­
room model and found that with the help of mPCM-modified concrete
opment of cracks under the action of anaphase load, and is also bene­
slabs the temperature reduced for 13.1 ◦ C, which further verified the
ficial to decrease the chance of concrete spalling under high
potential application value of mPCM in the field of developing insulation
temperature. The properties of various types fibers were listed in
cement-based composite with fire resistance.
Table 3. It has been reported that the reduction effect on spalling is
Nevertheless, the above-mentioned thermal performance test results
influenced by fiber type, size and weight [69]. In 1994, Sarvaranta and
of mPCM-concrete have shown a large degree of dispersion, which is
Mikkola [70,71] conducted an experimental study on different types of
mainly due to the fact that still no relevant standards and specifications
fiber reinforced cement-based composite subjected to fire. And they
for the thermal performance testing and characterization of the mPCM-
pronounced that the empty channels created by polymer fibers melting
concrete system existed. At the same time, only few studies carried on
and the interface cracks caused by the thermal mismatch between
the microscopic level of PCM-concrete, which results in a relatively lack
embedded fibers and matrix are beneficial to effectively release the
of knowledge and understanding of the exact mechanism of action of
vapor pressure, and finally avoid the occurrence of concrete spalling
mPCM.
[72].
Nowadays, the most widely used method to effectively alleviate the
2.2.2. Composite phase change materials, cPCM
spalling of concrete exposed to elevated temperatures is to add PP fibers
In order to simplify the encapsulation process of PCM, the re­
[70,73-75]. Studies showed that PP fibers will melt at relatively low
searchers absorbed liquid PCM into porous organic materials, such as
temperature, around 160–170 ◦ C, then the melted fibers will be rapidly
expanded graphite [60], expanded vermiculite [61], diatomite [62] and
absorbed by the slurry, and finally the remaining empty channels will be
expanded perlite [63], to realize the encapsulation of PCM material.
interconnected to form a network of cracks in matrix [14]. Meanwhile,
cPCM has excellent chemical stability, thermal reliability and better
investigations disclosed that the presence of PP fibers can greatly reduce
compatibility with cement-based materials [64,65]. Recently the using
the pore pressure and thermal strain of concrete, which significantly
cPCM to prepare fire-resistant and heat-insulating cement-based mate­
reduces the range of stress field during heating [75]. The study of Bentz
rials has attracted more and more researchers’ attention.
and Bai et al. [69,76] illustrated that PP fiber with longer length and
By measuring the amount of PCM absorbed into the porous material,
smaller diameter shows a better effect of releasing the internal pore
Sun et al. [12] discovered that by this method a high encapsulation rate
pressure. It should be noticed that even with low PP fiber dosage (below
of PCM could be reached, more specifically, the total energy storage
the theoretical percolation threshold), the fire spalling of fiber rein­
capacity of cPCM is equivalent to that of mPCM. The research of Xu et al.
forced normal strength concrete could be greatly prevented [70]. A
[62] showed that with 30% volume fraction of cPCM, the thermal en­
possible explanation could be the slightly expansion during PP fibers
ergy storage capacity went up to 5.438 kJ/kg. Varied with mCPM, the
melting [77]. At the same time, the presence of PP fibers leads to

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X. Ma et al. Construction and Building Materials 315 (2022) 125623

Table 2
Properties, advantages and disadvantages of different inorganic porous lightweight fillers.
Porous Properties Advantages Disadvantages
lightweight fillers

FAC Diameter 30 μm–350 μm Improvement of mechanical properties and Worse workability;

Bulk density 400–800 kg/m3 toughness Worse impact on the homogeneity of matrix
Main composition Silica/Alumina
Thermal conductivity 0.065 W/(m*K)
GB Main composition Silica/Alumina Enhancement of residual mechanical Relatively high cost; Significant weakening effect on
Shape Spherical and properties compressive strength
smooth
Aerogel Bulk density 3–100 kg/m3 Significantly improvement of thermal Ununiformly dispersion; Relatively high cost
Volume of air voids 94%-99% insulation properties
Main compositionThermal Silica 0.003–0.02
conductivity W/(m*K)
Polymer shell of Melting temperature 23℃ Improvement of mechanical properties and Unstable properties after encapsulation; High cost;
PCMs Latent heat capacity 110 kJ/kg thermal insulation properties Complicated encapsulating methods;

Table 3
The basic properties of various fibers.
Density (kg/m3) Modulus of elasticity (GPa) Tensile strength (MPa) Tmelt (℃) Thermal conductivity W/(m*K)

PP fiber 851–935 ≥3.5 ≥400 160–170 0.15

PVA fiber 130 35–40 1200 200–230
PE fiber 918–970 80–120 2200–3500 124–138 0.18–0.46
Steel fiber 7800 200 300–2500 ≥1370 220

enlarging of the density of internal cracks and increasing of the amount
of micro-cracks [75]. Hence, even though the dosage of PP fiber is lower
than the theoretical percolation threshold, the inside network of cracks
is sufficient to be formed to discharge a large number of gas and steam.
However, for ultra-high-strength concrete, the better mechanical prop­
erties also resulted in higher degradation of strength and even severe
explosive spalling in case of fire [78,79]. The research of Du et al.
indicated that the minimum PP fiber dosage to control the fire-induced
spalling of ultra-high-strength concrete is 0.15% by volume [80] and the
Eurocode 2 [81]recommended 0.22% by volume as the optimum PP
fiber content, which are all higher than 0.1% for normal high strength
concrete [82]. Relevant experimental results of high strength concrete
also reflected that when the fiber content is lower than the critical
content (fiber volume fraction is 0.2%), the burst phenomenon at high-
temperature cannot be completely prevented [76,83].
Similar to PP fiber, the addition of other types of polymer fibers with
low-melting point are also capable to significantly improve the fire
spalling resistance, such as nylon fiber [84], PVA fiber [15] and jute
fiber [85]. However, not all polymer fibers with low-melting point can
effectively alleviate the spalling phenomenon. According to Liu’s
investigation [86], although PE fibers melted at around 140 ◦ C, they
could not effectively avoid the concrete spalling. This is mainly due to
the relatively high vaporization temperature of the PE fiber (about
500 ◦ C), which means the melted fibers will still exist in the matrix, so
that an effective channel for releasing vapor cannot be formed. And the
melting of fiber does not contribute to the development of micro-cracks
[86,87].
However, although PP fiber can effectively prevent concrete from
fire spalling, it cannot improve the residual compressive strength and
residual elastic modulus of concrete after exposure to elevated temper­
ature [14]. In addition, the results of optimal size and dosage of PP fiber
to prevent spalling shows a great discrete distribution [88-90], hence
until now a relevant criterion still failed to be established.
of the most commonly used raw materials to enhance the mechanical
properties of concrete, more researchers considered to use steel fiber to
improve the concrete high temperature resistance because of its excel­
lent heat transfer performance. Compared with the above-mentioned
polymer fibers, steel fibers significantly contribute both to the preven­
tion of spalling and the improvement of residual mechanical properties
after heating [16].
During the fire process, with the increasing of pore pressure, the
tangential component of pore pressure leads to a great reduction of bond
strength between steel fiber and matrix, which further results in the
formation of cracks between steel fibers and matrix. These internal
cracks are conducive to release the vapor pressure and finally cause a
pronounced decreasing tendency of pore pressure [91]. Moreover, due
to the adequate heat transfer performance of steel fibers, the internal
and external temperature gradients also can be reduced [31]. Kodur
et al. [92] conducted fire resistance tests on steel fiber reinforced con­
crete columns, and they concluded that the use of steel fibers can reduce
the likelihood of spalling occurrence and improve the fire resistance of
concrete columns. Zheng et al. [93] also found that adding steel fibers
with volume fraction of 1%, the percent of explosive spalling decreases
from 100% to 25%, and when the volume fraction exceeds 2%, no
explosive spalling will occur. The residual compressive strength and
tensile strength of steel fiber reinforced concrete are significantly
increased compared with the group without fiber. In addition, the
studies of Kahanji et al. [94] and Sun et al. [95] both found that single-
doped steel fiber cannot completely eliminate the high-temperature
spalling. It could only reduce the degree of spalling severity and
reduce the duration of severe spalling. Therefore, the spalling perfor­
mance of steel fiber is still required to be further investigated and
discussed.
3.3. Hybrid fiber

To meet higher requirements of spalling resistance and residual

3.2. Single-doped steel fiber
Although PP fiber can effectively prevent the risk of concrete spalling
during fire, it only shows limited improvement on the residual
compressive strength and residual elastic modulus after fire [14]. As one
mechanical properties, some investigations have pointed out that it is
possible to add hybrid fiber [96], for instance PP fibers and steel fibers.
The study of Xiong et al. [89] showed that the addition of only 0.5% steel
fiber and 0.5% PP fiber can already effectively prevent the occurrence of
spalling, which means that the effect of hybrid fiber on improving the

6
X. Ma et al.
high temperature resistance is better than that of single doped fiber with
the same content. Subsequently, Sanchayan et al. [15] mixed steel fiber
and PVA fiber, and the results illustrated that under the combined action
of PVA fiber and steel fiber, fire spalling is effectively suppressed and the
residual mechanical properties after fire are relatively high.
On the basis of two types of fibers, Lee et al. [88] compounded PP
fiber, nylon fiber and steel fiber with volume fraction of 0.2%, 0.2% and
0.5% respectively. From the experimental results of fire resistance per­
formance test of concrete columns, it could be seen that the effect of
three hybrid fibers is better than that of two types of fibers (steel fiber
and PP fiber). The reason might be that PP fibers with lower melting
point will firstly melt and forms a wider channel to release water vapor.
Then with the increasing of temperature, nylon fibers melt and form
thinner channels to delay the occurrence of spalling. At the same time,
steel fibers inside matrix control the expansion of internal cracks during
heating. However, this hypothesis has not been verified by corresponded
micro-analysis.
4. Effect of fly ash on residual mechanical properties
The above-illustrated deterioration of cement-based materials
microstructure at elevated temperature will further seriously affect the
residual mechanical properties, and more seriously will result in the
totally loss of bearing capacity and even casualties. With the incense­
ment of temperature, the residual compressive strength of cement-based
composite (when heated up to 600℃, the residual compressive strength
keeps only 60% of their original values; above 1000℃ the residual
compressive strength keeps only about 10% of their original values
[97]), residual flexural strength (when the temperature is raised to
600℃, the loss of flexural strength reaches 33% of their original values;
above 900℃, the residual flexural strength keeps only 20% of their
original values [98]), residual splitting tensile strength and residual
elastic modulus dropped dramatically.
As an industrial by-product produced during coal burning process,
fly ash is widely used as supplementary cementitious material [99].
After the addition of fly ash, mullite appears in the mineral phase of
cementitious composite, which is regarded as a high-quality refractory
material with favorable thermally stability. However great variation of
fly ash composition and performance due to the change of raw materials,
the calcination conditions and even the production conditions [99] will
all induce a discrete distributed test results distribute discrete during
investigation of fly ash on residual mechanical properties of cement-
based composites after high temperatures.
Fig. 8. Relative compressive strengths of cementitious composites with different content fly ash.
7
Construction and Building Materials 315 (2022) 125623
From the overall trend, it can be concluded that incorporation of fly
ash can effectively improve high temperature resistant ability, which is
beneficial to extent the exposed time before completely losing bearing
capacity [100]. The reasons lies in three aspects of areas [100]: 1. With
the liberation of gel water between the interlayers of C-S-H, the Van der
Walls’ force among layers increases and the microstructure of C-S-H gel
becomes more dense; 2. Due to high temperature and evaporation of
immersed water, the unhydrated cement particles and FA will further
hydrate, which might further promote the production of tobermorite
with a high degree of crystallinity and strength; 3. Pozzolanic FA can
consume the calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2 in cement paste by pozzolanic
reaction between calcium hydroxide in hydrated cement and reactive
SiO2 in mineral admixtures, which contribute to reducing the develop­
ment of thermal cracks caused by rehydration of calcium oxide and
resulting volume increase during cooling stage.
Meanwhile, As illustrated in the relevant test results (shown in
Fig. 8), in comparison with the cementitious composite without fly ash,
the incorporation of fly ash shows a positive effect on reducing the loss
of compressive strength after high temperature. As can be seen in Fig. 8
both for cementitious composite with and without fly ash, the residual
compressive strength showed an increasing tendency when heated up to
200-300℃. The reason might be that due to the evaporation of free
water, the cement gel layers moved closer to each other, which increases
the Van de Waal’s forces [101]), for the groups with medium mass
content of fly ash (FA content ≤ 50%), the greater the content of fly ash
is, the greater the relative compressive strength of material after
elevated temperature (relative compressive strength: the ratio of resid­
ual compressive strength to the compressive strength at ambient tem­
perature). It should be noticed that with high mass content of fly ash, the
improvement of relative compressive strength is more significant, even
at high temperatures (higher than 800℃). This might attributes to the
effect of ceramic phase produced during the sintering process of fly ash
and cement blends, which means even though C-S-H loses its binder
properties and totally decomposes, the ceramic phases can still provide
bearing capacity [102]. It should be mentioned that considering of the
influence of cooling regimes on the effectiveness of fly ash on relative
compressive strengths of thermally damaged cementitious composites,
the mentioned relative experimental results in this paper are all ob­
tained after the air-cooling regimes.
Besides the utilization of fly ash, the use of bottom ash from coal-
generated electric power plants in developing fire protection coating
materials also attracts the attention of researchers [103]. As a type of
refractory materials with high alumina content, aluminate-based
X. Ma et al. Construction and Building Materials 315 (2022) 125623

cement possesses high temperature resistance, whose refractory tem­ Table 4

perature even reached above 1580℃ [104]. And it has been reported Analytical functions for Effective Thermal Conductivity (ETC).
that the residual compressive strength of aluminate cement-based Conduction Effective Thermal Conductivity (ke ) Characteristics
composites reached up to 88% of their original values [105]. Hence, theory
the combined use of aluminate cement and Portland cement might Series Model ke = (1 − ∅)kc + ∅kd where, ke and kc are The simplest
contribute to the enhancement of residual mechanical properties of [107] the thermal conductivity of composite models, which are
cement-based fireproof coatings to be used in steel structures for fire and continuous phase respectively, ∅ is normally used for a
protection. volume fraction of discrete phase, kd is rough estimation of
the thermal conductivity of discrete phase the upper/lower
Parallel Model 1 1− ∅ ∅ limit of ETC.
5. Heat transfer mechanisms of porous fillers containing [107] ke
=
kc
+
kd
composite Maxwell- ke = This model
Hamilton’s ∑m ∅i (di − 1)(kc − ki ) introduced an
1− i=2
Conductive heat transfer in porous fillers containing cement-based Model [108] ki + (di − 1)ki empirical shape
kc Where, ki is
∑m ∅i (kc − ki ) factor di , for
composites is very complicated, since it mixed the vibration of molec­ 1 + i=2
ki + (di − 1)ki spherical particle, a
ular vibrations and energy transport of free electrons [106]. Thermal the thermal conductivity of discrete constant di = 3 is
conductivity is an important materials’ feature that demonstrates heat phase, m is the number of discrete phases, given.
conduction capability. Hence, clearing the calculation method of ETC is ∅i is the volume fraction of discrete phase
and di is the shape factor of discrete phase
beneficial to understand the heat transfer mechanism in cement-based
i
composites, so as to avoid cracks induced by thermal stress. Different
Krischer’s 1 This model can be
scholars proposed various analytical models for predicting ETC of Model [109]
ke = ∑ ∅i z Where, z
combined with the
z( m ) + 1 − ∑m
cementitious composite such as Parallel Model, Maxwell and Hamilton i=1
ki i=1 ∅ i ki series model and
models and Effective Medium Theories (EMT), etc. is the distribution factor parallel model by
This article summarizes the conductive theory and corresponded using a distribution
factor z
calculation formulas of ETC and analyzes the characteristics of each
Budiansky’s ∑m ∅i This model
model, as shown in Table 4. i=1 2 1 ki
=1
Model [110] established an
However, all the analytical models described in Table 4 are devel­ +
3 3 ke analogy between an
oped based on the assumption that the structural configuration of electrostatic field
composite is ideal, i.e. the size of each component within composite is and temperature
distribution in a
uniform and conforms to the simplest spatial arrangement. Moreover,
composite
the size distribution effects of individual components are ignored, which consisting of a
means only the influence of volume fraction of insulation components is random mixture of
considered. If the material is porous cement-based composite with more m isotropic
complicated composition, none of the above-mentioned models can be constituents, at least
m − 1 of which are
used to accurately predict ETC.
presumed to be
For complex multiphase and porous cement-based composite mate­ roughly spherical in
rials, the composition is more inclined to poly-dispersed quasi-randomly shape.
packed multi-phase components. For hollow fillers added into cement- Lewis and kd This model
[ ] − 1
based materials, the diameters are generally less than 4 mm. Accord­ Nielsen 1 + AB∅ k modified by adding
ke = kc Where, B = c ,
Semi- 1 − B∅ψ kd the effect of the
ing to Skochdople’s investigation, under this circumstance, the heat +A
Theoretical kc shape of the
transfer caused by natural convection between fillers can be ignored Model [107] 1 − ∅m particles and the
ψ =1+(
[111], only consider the heat conduction in the state of ambient tem­
)∅
∅2m orientation or type
perature and heat radiation in the state of elevated temperature [112]. value of A and ∅m for different geometric of packing for a two-
shapes and orientation can be obtained phase system.
Although the low thermal conductivity of this kind of porous fillers
from given tables
incorporated cement-based materials mainly depends on the insulation
properties of the internal hollow fillers, the interface thermal resistance
effect caused by porous structure and sizes of hollow fillers (from capable to better estimate the thermal conductivity. In contrast, with the
nanometer to macro) are both possible to influence the thermal con­ help of probabilistic theory, Chen et al. [114] developed a one dimen­
ductivity of material [49]. Taking GB as an example, because of the filled sional model to predict the thermal conductivity of cement-based ma­
inert gases the interfacial area with the surrounding matrix is large, terials incorporated with EPS particles without conduction of
which makes the GBs incorporated composite exhibits unique thermal microscopically experiments.
properties. Therefore, it is urgent and necessary to develop a more ac­ Recently, due to the widely utilization of hollow GB and other porous
curate numerical simulation model of heat transfer that emphasizes the materials in the field of thermal insulation cement-based composites,
field of physical properties of multi-phase composite structures. more and more researchers concentrated on studying the thermal per­
On the basis of empirical models of ETC described in Table 4, Liu formance of GBs reinforced cement-based composites. Peng et al. [115]
et al. [113] established a generalized multi-scale micromechanical established a heat conduction micro-model of GB containing cement-
model to simulate the thermal performance of cement-based composites based composite by variational asymptotic homogenization method.
based on Eshelby equivalent inclusion principle. This model on the basis Numerical results showed that the thermal current will be separated
of effective medium and mean-field theories can predict the thermal when encounter the GBs. Most of the thermal current will be flow
conductivity of porous cement-based materials more accurately. In around the curved bead wall, while small part of it will directly trans­
order to clarify the spatial distribution of the hollow fillers, Rheinheimer ferred through the beads, indicating that GB possesses favorable thermal
et al. [32] used synchroton high-resolution microtomography, trans­ insulation effect. As shown in the Fig. 10, the model assumes that the
mission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to embedded GBs distribute in an approximate pattern as Vornooi [115].
characterize the porous structure of the cenosphere containing cement- Due to the random variably distribution, the average position of GBs in
based composite (shown as Fig. 9). And based on the experimental re­ the cell structure will be used, which is at the center of square. Mean­
sults of thermal conductivity and porosity, they proposed a multi-scale while, the well combination of adjacent phases is hypotheses as one of
micromechanical model for porous cement-based composites, which is

8
X. Ma et al. Construction and Building Materials 315 (2022) 125623

Fig. 9. Slice and reconstructed images showing the different identified phases [32].

from the following two aspects:

(1) Vapor pressure in pores:
When concrete surface is subjected to sufficiently high temperature,
part of the moisture in the concrete will be vaporized and released into
atmosphere and then forms a dry zone. On the contrary, the other part of
the moisture will be vaporized and gradually move opposite to the inner
part of concrete. During the migration process, due to the internal and
external thermal gradient, the inner part of concrete is cooler and the
vapor there will be condensed. With the rising of temperature, the
condensed water accumulates and gradually forms a water saturated
layer, which resists the further migration of vapor into inner part of
concrete. And finally results in a large increase of pore pressure. As
shown in the Fig. 11, theoretically when the pore pressure reaches to the
ultimate tensile strength, spalling of concrete would occur. For the
judgment of the spalling occurrence of structural members, compared
with the high cost and complex standard fire tests [116], more re­
searchers devoted to utilize numerical simulation to evaluate the fire
performances [92,117]. Recently, Ren et al. [117] established a more
accurate model which takes spalling phenomenon into consideration
and makes some modifications by adopting new sorption isotherms and
proposing an improved spalling criterion considering of the pore pres­
sure induced stresses, thermal gradients induced stresses and strength
variation caused by spatial stress superposition. The research of Ren
Fig. 10. Random cells of hollow GB containing cement-based composites and
et al. [117] and Ju et al. [118] also verified that vapor pressure is one of
unit cell.
the main cause of thermal spalling of concrete.
(2) The thermal stress mechanism
the boundary conditions. This kind of hypothesis assumes that the heat
During fire hazard, thermally inert concrete is subjected to “ther­
will not excessively pass through the interface, and the influence of the
mally shock” condition (temperature is extremely high and the tem­
interface resistance is neglected. However, the results of Xu et al. [49]
perature increases very fast). Due to uneven heat conduction, thermally
showed that the interfacial thermal resistance caused by the porous
gradient will be formed between the heated concrete surface and the
structure of the interfacial transition zones around the aggregates leads
inner part of concrete, hence, the temperature stress is generated [119].
to a reduction of thermal conductance.
Compressive stress is generated parallel to the heated concrete surface,
while tensile stress is generated inside the concrete. When the
6. Anti-spalling mechanisms of fiber reinforced cementitious
compressive stress exceeds the tensile stress, concrete spalling occurs, as
composite
shown in the Fig. 12. This thermal stress mechanism was also verified by
the simulation results of Ju Yang et al. [120].
To have a more solid understanding of the action mechanisms of
In 2000, Bentz [69] first used “percolation theory” to explain the
fibers during spalling process. The thermal spalling mechanism of con­
mechanism of preventing spalling of PP fibers reinforced cementitious
crete will be firstly investigated.
composite. The theory stated that when the temperature increases to
Spalling may occur suddenly and randomly for concrete in a fire, and
200 ◦ C, the randomly distributed PP fibers in matrix will be melted. And
due to the complexity of spalling process, until now still no consensus on
due to the elevated temperature pore coarsening will occur on the
the mechanism of its generation is achieved. At present, the concrete
aggregate interface. The channels formed after the fibers’ melting will
spalling mechanisms at high temperature could be mainly explained

9
X. Ma et al. Construction and Building Materials 315 (2022) 125623

Fig. 11. Spalling of concrete induced by pore vapor pressure.

Fig. 12. Spalling of concrete induced by thermal stresses.

connect the adjacent aggregate interface to develop a “percolated
network”, which helps to an effective release and migration of pore
pressure. This theory is also recognized by many scholars [14,75].
However, recently Zhang et al. [121] proposed a new explanation for
the anti-spalling mechanism of PP fibers. They claimed that the
interconnected network of microcracks in the matrix induced by the
significant thermal mismatch between embedded fibers and matrix is
responsible for the rapid releasing of gases or water vapor. Test results
showed that the significant increasement of gas permeability of concrete
occurs before melting of PP fibers. However, a relatively small rate of

10
X. Ma et al.
increase in gas permeability was observed after the melting point of PP
fibers. Meanwhile, the coefficient of thermal expansion of PP fibers
shows an obvious increasing tendency with increase of temperature. The
resulted thermal mismatch effect leads to the occurrence of micro-cracks
along fiber radial direction. With a further increase in temperature, the
micro-cracks gradually expand until an interconnected network forms
(as shown in the Fig. 13). Although this theory is based on the high-
strength concrete with a highly dense microstructure, the proposal of
this theory shows that the mechanism of preventing explosive spalling
still requires to be further investigated. In conclusion, for polymer fibers
such as PP fibers reinforced concrete, the thermal explosive spalling is
prevented by reducing the internal vapor pressure
Unlike polymer fibers, steel fiber has a very high melting point and
its thermal conductivity is much higher than cement-based materials.
The fiber network formed inside the matrix can accelerate the heat
transfer rate in the cement-based material and significantly reduce the
internal temperature gradient of material. Thereby reducing the explo­
sive spalling induced by thermal stress will be effectively improved
[122].
7. Current challenges
Currently, most of the researchers focused on the topic of novel
cement-based fire-resistive materials with satisfactory durability per­
formances such as enhanced ductility and bond properties with steel
[8,123], higher strength [32,124], or improved fire and heat retardant
behavior [100,125] and also remarkable results have been achieved.
However, only few publications related to mechanisms of fire protection
and explosion suppression of cement-based fire-resistive materials are
capable to be found, which required to be further investigated.
Fig. 13. Microstructural evolution in UHPC sample with temperatures: (a)
ambient temperature; (b) 105℃; (c) 150℃; (d) 170℃; (e) 200℃; and (f)
300℃ [121].
11
Construction and Building Materials 315 (2022) 125623
Moreover, the number of studies related to mechanical properties and
thermal properties of cement-based fire-resistive materials are still
limited and also needed to be further researched. Kodur et al. [126]
found that due to the variation of moisture content and chemical con­
stituents during heating, the thermal properties will be influenced
greatly by elevated temperature; when heated up to 300 ◦ C, the thermal
conductivity of fire-resistive materials will be decreased by around 47%
compared with that at ambient temperature. Roufael et al. [127]
investigated the mechanical properties at elevated temperature and
found that before from 100 to 450 ◦ C, the mechanical strengths
decreased nearly in proportion with temperature; and after 450 ◦ C a
dramatically reduction occurred. Based on the former studies, it can be
summarized that cement-based fire-resistive materials show great po­
tential to be used in fire protection engineering due to its excellent
properties i.e. anti-aging, anti-cracking and anti-swelling when exposed
to water and low cost. Nevertheless, the remaining drawbacks are
nonnegligible which greatly restrict the development and application of
this type of materials:
(1) Although the hollow fillers containing cement-based composites
possesses excellent thermal insulation properties, the porous
structure leads to an extremely poor mechanical properties,
which can rarely be used as self-fireproof materials. Hence, more
researches in the field of proper utilization of lightweight fillers
are essential to be investigated to guarantee adequate insulation
property without compromising mechanical performance.
(2) Compared with the expensive intumescent fireproof materials,
the limit refractory time of the former developed cement-based
fire-resistive materials is shorter. When utilized in fire protec­
tion engineering, the required thickness of fire coating is much
larger than those of intumescent paint and extremely affect the
structural self-weight, which also implies that additional study of
development of fire-retardant cementitious materials with
extended fire endurance is required.
(3) The inherent brittleness and poor bond properties of cement-
based fireproof materials results in delamination to base mate­
rials and loss of fire performance, which badly impact the struc­
tural fire resistance. Although researchers have developed novel
cementitious fireproof materials with better ductility and bond
performance, these properties still failed to reach expected goal.
Therefore, relevant investigations are still needed to be further
studied.
(4) The existed analytical models do not fully consider various fac­
tors affecting the thermal conductivity of porous fillers incorpo­
rated composite, i.e. size distribution effects, interfacial thermal
resistance and aggregate degradation. Moreover, current knowl­
edge about thermal conductivity of this type of composite is still
insufficient. Hence, additional experimental and simulation in­
vestigations are required to develop a novel analytical model for
predicting ETC.
8. Conclusions and recommendations
Cement-based materials to be used as steel structural fireproof
coatings exhibit excellent thermal insulation properties, anti-spalling
performance and improved mechanical properties after elevated tem­
perature, which are manufactured by adding inorganic porous fillers,
short fibers and calcined products.
This study discussed various factors affecting the insulation proper­
ties, spalling performance and residual performance and also summa­
rized different relevant theories. More specifically, the effects on
thermal insulation performance were summarized. And considering of
the reduction effect of extremely porous structure on mechanical
properties, the porous filler with pozzolanic reactivity could be single
utilized or mixed with other lightweight fillers to guarantee favorable
insulation property and adequate mechanical property. Then the
X. Ma et al.
influences of various fibers on thermal spalling resistance performance
were analyzed. Since polymer fibers can effectively prevent concrete
from fire spalling, while steel fibers are beneficial to improve the re­
sidual mechanical properties after exposure to elevated temperature.
Therefore, the addition of hybrid fiber can be selected and the anti-
spalling performance of cheaper alternative such as polyester fibers is
also worth to investigate. Then the strengthened effects of fly ash on
residual mechanical properties after high temperatures were summa­
rized. With the aim of cost reduction, other types of solid wastes can be
used in developing refractory cement-based materials. Afterwards,
various conduction theories and corresponded analytical functions for
predicting ETC and different mechanisms related to thermal spalling
were listed. It can be concluded that although sufficient relevant studies
have been conducted, due to a lack of consideration of influencing
factors i.e. size distribution effects, interfacial thermal resistance and
aggregate degradation the current analytical models still fail to accu­
rately predict the value of ETC and explain the anti-spalling mechanisms
of fibers, which required to be further investigated. Finally, the
remaining challenges of development of this type of composite were
discussed.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
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