A Review of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Rebar for Reinforced Cement Concrete

Mechanical Engineering

Reinforced concrete is first invented in the middle of 19th century in France. It has given the breakthrough of using steel as a add-on reinforcement for improving the structural durability of infrastructures. Since then it is widely adopted by the humans in construction of bridges, buildings and modern infrastructure. The strength of construction in reinforced concrete is strongly depending on the steel reinforcement. Steel being a metal when comes in contact with the water start corrosion by electrochemical reaction which form the rust. This rust expands is volume and create further stresses in the concrete to fail. So ensure the durability of reinforced concrete construction it is important to prevents the corrosion of steel reinforcements. Some of the preventative measures used is additives in concrete and epoxy coated steel rebars. In both the cases steel rebar starting of corrosion is delayed but not completely eliminated. Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) being structurally strong and excellent anticorrosive martial has found its way in the application. FRP rebar consisting the fibers mostly glass and a resin matrix such as epoxy and Vinylester is developed as replacement for steel rebar in concrete. FRP rebar completely eliminates the corrosion in concrete and increase its durability for sustainable infrastructure. In this paper, various developments in the field of FRP rebar are reviewed. The important standards used for qualifications and testing are summarized. Some of limitations of FRP rebar along with possible current research trends are discussed in the paper.

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