Relationship between fracture area and tensile strength of cement paste with supplementary cementitious materials

• The axial tensile strength and ultimate strain of cement paste with SCMs is studied.
• The relationship between tensile strength and fracture area with SCMs is analyzed.
• Increasing dosage of BFS, FA, and SF improves the ultimate strain.
• The total fracture area is relatively large, as the tensile strength is small.

Fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), and blast furnace slag (BFS) were used as the supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in cement paste. The axial tensile strength, ultimate strain and the area of fracture surface of cement paste with SCMs were experimentally investigated in this study, and the relationship between tensile strength and fracture area of specimens were analyzed. The test results show that the tensile strength of the specimens decreases with the increasing addition of SCM. Except for SF, there is a negative correlation between the tensile strengths of specimens and W/B ratio. The increasing dosage of BFS, FA, and SF improves the ultimate strain. The fracture area of cement paste decreases with an increase in water-binder (W/B) ratio. The total fracture area is relatively large, as the tensile strength value is relatively low.