FIBRE REINFORCED PLASTICS – NEW AGE

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

1 INTRODUCTION

With the increasing diversity of structures and the desire for new materials
of construction, many unconventional materials such as composites are being
adopted. During the past two decades the applications of composite materials have
grown rapidly and are now very common around the world.

2 COMPOSITE MATERIALS
Composite materials are formed by the combination of two or more materials that
retain their respective characteristics when combined together to achieve properties that
are superior to those of individual constituents. In generic terms, the idea of a composite
is analogous to that of reinforced concrete. However, composites present immense
opportunities for tailoring of the material to the specific requirements of the structure.
The main components of composites are reinforcing agents and matrix. The fibres,
particulates and whiskers act as the reinforcement and provide most of the stiffness and
strength. The matrix binds the reinforcement together thus effecting the load transfer
from matrix to reinforcement and adds to the performance merits of the material. Other
substances such as fillers are used to reduce the cost and improve process ability and
dimensional stability.
Today, the most common man made composites can be divided into three main
groups:
1. Polymer Matrix Composites (PMC’s): These are the most common and will be
the main area of discussion. These are also known as FRP- Fibre Reinforced
Polymers (or Plastics).
2. Metal Matrix Composites (MMC’s)
3. Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC’s)
Fibre reinforced composites can be further divided into those containing
discontinuous or continuous fibres.

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 The three most important requirements for materials which are to be used in
highly demanding applications are a high resistance to plastic deformations, resistance to
fracture and elastic stiffness.
The advantages of the use of FRP as a structural material are
1. Strong: high strength to weight ratio
2. Light weight: only two-thirds the weight of Aluminum and 20% of steel.
3. Durable: properly chosen it is resistant to atmospheric and chemical corrosion.
4. Non-conductive: excellent thermal and electrical insulating properties.
5. Maintenance: low to maintenance free; painting not required.
6. Easily workable.
3 CONSTITUENT MATERIALS

It is a well-known fact that FRP consists of high performance fibres and a matrix.
The various fibres are: glass fibres, ceramics (like silicon carbide, silicon nitride etc),
carbon fibres, tungsten, cold drawn wires etc. Among the newly explored possibilities are
those made from Coir, Hemp, Jute, Flax etc.
The matrix is usually a resin system which are usually an unsaturated polyester
resins to which additives, catalysts and pigments are added to achieve specific purposes
THE DESIRABLE PROPERTIES OF FIBRES AND MATRIX
3.1 Fibre
1. Should have a high tensile strength.
2. Variation of strength among individual fibres should be as small as possible.
3. Should belong to the same type, should have cross sectional diameter and surface area
uniform.

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Some of the Physical and Mechanical Properties of a few fibres are tabulated as below
Table 3.1 Physical and Mechanical Properties of Glass Fibre:
Fibre Type E-Glass S-Glass
(1). Diameter (µ m) 8-14 10
(2). Density (kg/m3) 2540 2490
(3). Tensile Modulus (GPa) 72.40 85.5
(4). Tensile Strength (Mpa) 2400 3450
(5). % Elongation 1.8-3.2 5-7
(6). Coefficient of thermal 5 5-6
expansion (°/C)
(7). Specific Gravity 2.54 2.49

Table 3.2 Physical and Mechanical Properties of Carbon Fibre

Fibre Type Poly acrolonitrilie (PAN)
(1) Diameter(µ m) 10-11
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(2) Density(kg/m ) 2020
(3) Tensile Modulus (GPa) 345
(4) Tensile Strength (MPa) 3500
(5) % Elongation 0.4-0.9
(6) Coefficient of thermal expansion (°/C) -0.9 to 1.6
(7) Specific Gravity 2.02
Table 3.3 Physical and Mechanical Properties of Aramid Fibre
Fibre Type Kevlar Fibra
(1) Diameter (µ m) 12 38
(2) Density (kg/m3) 1440 970
(3) Tensile Modulus (GPa) 62 117
(4) Tensile Strength (Mpa) 2760 2580
(5) % Elongation 3-4 4-5
(6) Coefficient of thermal expansion (°/C) -2 --
(7) Specific Gravity 1.44 0.97
3.1.1. Fibre Type Comparisons

Comparing the properties of all of the fibre types with each other, shows that they
all have distinct advantages and disadvantages. This makes different fibre types more
suitable for some applications than others. The following table provides a basic
comparison between the main desirable features of generic fibre types. ‘A’ indicates a
feature where the fibre scores well, and ‘C’ indicates a feature where the fibre is not
so good.

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 Table 3.4 Fibre Type Comparisons
Property Aramid Carbon Glass
High Tensile Strength B A B
High Tensile Modulus B A C
High Compressive Strength C A B
High Compressive Modulus B A C
High Flexural Strength C A B
High Flexural Modulus B A C
High Impact Strength A C B
High Interlaminar Shear Strength B A A
High In-plane Shear Strength B A A
Low Density A B C
High Fatigue Resistance B A C
High Fire Resistance A C A
High Thermal Insulation A C B
High Electrical Insulation B C A
Low Thermal Expansion A A A
Low Cost C C A

3.2 Matrix
1. It should transfer the stress to fibres efficiently by adhesion or friction.
2. It should not react chemically with the fibres.
3. It should bind the fibres and protect its surface from damage during handling,
fabrication etc.
Polymers used as matrix materials are commonly referred to as resins. There are
two basic classes of resins. They are:
1 Thermosets – when heated they undergo an irreversible chemical change called
curing. They chemically cross link and develop a network structure that sets them
in shape. If they are heated after they have been cured they do not melt.
2 Thermoplastics – These resins melts when heated and solidify when cooled. Once
they initially melt to form the composite, heating above the lower forming
temperature can reshape them.

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 Some of the Physical and Mechanical Properties of resins are listed in Table 3.4

Table 3.5 Physical And Mechanical Properties of resins

Fibre type Polyester Vinylester Epoxy
(1). Density (kg/m3) 1100-1500 970 1100-1400
(2). Tensile Modulus 62 117 2-6
(Gpa)
(3). Tensile Strength 2760 2580 35-150
(MPa)
(4). % Elongation 3-4 4-5 1-8.5
(5). Specific Gravity 1.1-1.5 0.97 1.10-1.14

3.3 FIBRE MATRIX INTERFACE

A bundle of fibres by itself is useless as a load bearing structure, but embedding
the fibre in a resin matrix gives the necessary stiffness in shear and compression. The
fibre and the matrix are mutually reinforcing: the strong stiff fibre carries most of the
stress and the polymer matrix distributes the external load to all the fibres, while at the
same time protecting them.
This load sharing requires that stress be transferred across the interface between
the fibre and resin. There is no sharp well defined interface between the fibre and resin,
for the fibre is coated with a heterogeneous mixture forming the matrix of the composite
structure .The whole interfacial region is about 10-² mm thick or greater.
Stress can only be transferred across an interface between two materials if they are
in intimate molecular contact with each other, separated only by about the same distance
as the molecules inside the bulk materials. The materials are then said to be adhering to
each other. There need not be any chemical linking of the materials; they merely have to
be so close that the normal intermolecular forces are operative.

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 The plastic flow of the matrix under stress transfers the load to the fibres. As a
result a high modulus composite is obtained. A typical FRP reinforcement will consist of
60%to 65% of fibres and the remaining cross section is the matrix.

4 COMMON FABRICATION METHODS

Some of the common fabrication methods are:

A) Custom Contact Moulding

1) Hand Lay up process

2) Spray Lay up process

B) Filament Winding
C) Pultrusion
D) Resin Transfer Moulding

5 COMPARISON WITH OTHER STRUCTURAL MATERIALS

There is a very large range of mechanical properties that can be achieved with
composite materials. Even when considering one fibre type on its own, the composite
properties can vary by a factor of 10 with the range of fibre contents and orientations that
are commonly achieved. The comparisons that follow therefore show a range of
mechanical properties for the composite materials. The lowest properties for each
material are associated with simple manufacturing process and material forms (e.g. spray
lay up glass fibre), and the higher properties are associated with higher technology
manufacture (e.g. autoclave moulding of unidirectional glass fibre), such as would be
found in the aerospace industry. The graph below shows the Tensile Strength of Common
Structural Materials.

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 Tensile Strength of Common Structural Materials

6 MECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR OF COMPOSITES

The mechanical properties of the composites depend, to a large extent, on the
proportion of fibre, which they contain. The proportion of fibre is, in turn a matter of the
arrangement of fibres- the more closely can the fibres be packed and higher,
consequently, the maximum possible proportion of the fibre.
The first of the three categories into which composites may be divided is that in
which the fibres are randomly distributed within the plastic matrix. The fibres are
generally short and because they are randomly arranged the maximum proportion of fibre
is limited to about 50% by weight, though in practice there may be only 10% of fibre.
The principle examples of this category include laminates made with chopped strand
mats, dough moulding compounds and glass fibre reinforced thermoplastics.
The second category are those composites in which the fibres are arranged
orthogonally, generally in the plane of the laminate, by being woven into glass cloth or

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woven rovings. Because of the more orderly arrangement of the fibres the maximum
percentage of glass can range between 40-65% by weight.
In the third category of composites the fibres are all laid in one direction. This is
the case with rods produced by pultrusion and certain laminates based on filament
winding. Since the fibres are all laid in one direction, the percentage of fibres is
maximum compared to the above two categories and is as high as 90.67% by volume in
theory. In practice however it ranges from 60-90% by weight.

Unidirectional
Uniaxial
Tensile strength Orthogonal

Random

Percentage of Glass by Weight

Tensile Strength v/s Glass Content by Weight
6.1 STRESS STRAIN CHARACTERISTICS
Since Polymer Matrix Composites combine a resin system and reinforcing fibres
the properties of the resulting composite material will combine something of the
properties of the resin on its own with that of the fibres on their own.

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 Overall, the properties of the composite are determined by:
1) The properties of the fibre
2) The properties of the resin
3) The ratio of fibre to resin in the composite (Fibre Volume Fraction)
4) The geometry and orientation of the fibres in the composite.

6.2 STRENGTH AND FACTORS INFLUENCING IT

The amount of energy which glass reinforced plastics can absorb before they
break is a function not only of the maximum stress but also of the strain up to failure. In
fact, it is proportional to the product of the stress and strain i.e. to the area under the
curve in the stress –strain curve. When examined it is apparent that glass reinforced
plastics fails without much elongation making it a brittle material. In practice it has been
observed that its strength is sensitive to the presence of notches and other local stress
raisers.

Environmental conditions such as temperature too have a bearing on its

performance. Increase in temperature decreases the stiffness and strength of glass
reinforced plastics composites until a limit of mechanical performance is reached in the
range of 200-300°C with commonly used thermosetting resins. On the other hand,
operating temperatures below normal tend to be advantageous to glass reinforced plastics
which do not become as brittle as other materials at low temperatures. This makes them
attractive for cryogenic applications.
The above-mentioned mechanical properties of glass-reinforced plastics relate to
their behaviour under tensile loads. However, many of them are equally applicable to the
behaviour under compressive or shear loads.
There are however some important differences. In particular, under compressive
loading applied parallel to the direction of the fibres, the latter tend to become unstable
and buckle like long slender struts making them less effective under compression than
under tension.

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 The high glass content composites are also relatively less effective under shear
because the resistance to shear between the fibre layers depends predominantly on the
plastic matrix.

7 APPLICATIONS OF FRP IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

FRP have been used in many civil engineering applications, such as bridges,
buildings, off shore structures and retaining walls in Japan, Europe, Canada and USA.
The following describes some selected completed, in progress and future applications to
highlight the potential use of these materials.
7.1 SHORT SPAN BRIDGES
Many pedestrian bridges have been constructed using FRP .The span of these
bridges vary from 7 to 10 mtrs. Fibre reinforced plastic tendons have also been used as
reinforcement and to prestress concrete bridges to enhance the durability for severe
environmental conditions. In addition to the high strength and good fatigue properties, the
low young’s modulus of FRP tendons could also be an advantage to reduce the
prestressing losses. These characteristics greatly enhance the use of FRP as prestressing
tendons for short span bridges.
7.2 LONG SPAN BRIDGES
As a result of the superior advantage of high –strength –to weight ratio of FRP
compared to conventional materials, FRP provide unique alternative to steel and concrete
materials to construct long span bridges, which can not be built by conventional
materials. FRP structural sections can be used effectively in combination with FRP cables
in producing unique bridge girder configurations to build very long bridges. Comparative
studies were undertaken to examine the feasibility of constructing bridges using steel,
glass fibre reinforced plastics (GFRP) and carbon fibre reinforced (CFRP) plastics, for
cable –stayed bridges and classical suspension types. The study concluded that the most
feasible design would be a cable-stayed bridge using CFRP.
The specific design loads versus the canter spans for the classical form of suspension
bridges made of steel are compared with those made of GFRP or CFRP. The comparison
shows the use of advanced composites would allow doubling or tripling of the limiting
span in comparison to steel structures.

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7.3 COMPOSITE BRIDGE DECKS
FRP composite bridge decks are made of pultruded components that are bonded and
interlocked. They are placed transversely to the traffic and are supported by longitudinal
beams. The FRP decks comprise of double trapezoid composite connected with full depth
hexagons that provide mechanical interlock and an extensive bonding surface.
Construction of highway bridges with modular FRP decks requires the understanding of
the deck performance under traffic loads. Traffic loads include repetitive stress cycles on
bridge decks during the service life of the structure. The composite bridge decks are
modular in design and can be produced and can be produced in continuous lengths
because of inherent process adopted (pultrusion technique) and these lengths can be cut
to size depending on the users requirement. Hence, it furnishes greater flexibility in
fabrication of the composite bridge decks to suit various product dimensions.

Pultruted FRP Sections

The first ever-recorded composite bridge is the Gindji Bridge in Bulgaria, which
was constructed in 1982 using the hand lay up technique. Over the last 5 years several
bridges have been constructed, both pedestrian and highway, such as the Aberfeldy Foot
Bridge in Scotland, the Bonds Mill Lift Bridge in England, the Kolding Bridge in

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Denmark, etc. In most of these cases, the preferred method of construction is deck
supported by beams.
Composite bridge decks are being used for both permanent bridges for
state/national highways and over culverts in USA. The composite bridge decks installed
in USA were designed and tested by American Association of State Highway and
Transport Officials (AASHTO). The following data gives the some of the composite
bridge decks installed in USA.

• 51.2 m x 14.6 m FRP decks on W 36x81 steel girder installed at Salem

Avenue, Montgomery Country, Ohio in November 1999
• 6.1 m x 4.9 m FRP decks on FRP wide flange beams installed at Laurel
Lick bridge, Lewis country, West Virginia in May 1997
• 9.14 m x 6.6 m FRP decks installed at Wickwire run bridge, Taylor
County, West Virginia in September 1997
• 7.32 m x 3.74 m FRP decks installed at Shawnee Creek bridge, Xenia,
Ohio in October 1997
• 8.66 m x 10.04 m FRP decks installed at Laurel run road, Somerset
County, Pennsylvania in October 1998

7.4 TUNNEL LINING

FRP grids could be extremely effective as reinforcement for tunnel lining using
shortcrete technique to form the skin surface. It has advantages over steel due to its high
corrosion –resistance and flexibility, which is convenient for, curved surfaces, in addition
to their excellent alkali, acid and chemical resisting properties. The material is very
lightweight, having approximately one fourth the specific gravity of steel, and may be cut
easily cut with a hacksaw.

7.5 MARINE STRUCTURES

Fibreglass boats, fibreglass pretensioned piles hard-core marine fender etc are the
common applications in the field of marine structures. The hard core marine fender is
composed of parts that are heavy-duty wear-resistant rubber and ultra high molecular

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weight polythene face, which is thermoplastically bonded to the truss panel to resist
abrasion.

7.6 REPAIR OF STRUCTURES

A number of chimneys, columns, slabs and girders have been repaired and
strengthened with CFRP products due to earthquake damage and/or structural needs to
increase their capacity. Many products are currently available for this type of retrofitting.
The products are often unidirectional and produced in the form of fibre tapes, fibre
winding strands and fabrics.
The materials are effective for both flexural and shear strengthening of structures.
A retrofit process of a structure, such as chimney, begins with preparation of the concrete
surface, trowelling the surface with mortar or epoxy, followed by placement of the auto-
adhesive tapes in the longitudinal direction and confining of the outer surface in the
circumferential direction by winding small diameter carbon cables. To facilitate the cable
winding operation, an automatic winding machine is currently available. To satisfy the
fire resistance requirements, a fire resistant material, such as cement mortar, normally
covers the surface.

Strengthening deteriorated steel and concrete bridges by bonding carbon fibre

reinforced epoxy laminates to the exterior of the structure has been studied. The study has
shown that the use of CFRP laminates in place of steel plates for such applications could
reduce the total cost by about 20%. Although more expensive, FRP materials are
lightweight and have better corrosion resistant properties that could result in significant
reduction in overall long-term costs.

7.8 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS

The non-magnetic neutrality of FRP makes it an attractive material to be used in
some special applications. For example: fibre glass cables were used in the rehabilitation
of the Marine d’Ivry subway station in Paris, where the non –magnetic nature of these
cables played an important role in the selection of this type of cables instead of high
stress steel cables.

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8. MATERIALS AND DURABILITY
Although composites are often touted as having very good resistance to
environmental exposure, it must be stressed that this is highly dependent on the types of
fibre, fibre sizing and resin used. The inappropriate selection can result in premature
failure.
Most resins absorb moisture to a certain degree causing an increase in weight.
However, provided that the moisture does not react at the interfacial level the effects are
reversible after drying. In cases where it is known that the composite will be exposed to
significant moisture levels, it is recognised that the use of resin rich layers and gel coats
can be advantageous. Similarly it is expected that for primary structure bearing
significant loads the main reinforcing fibre will be graphite rather than glass, due to its
inertness in such an environment.
This underlines the need for the definition of proper safety factors and stress
levels as well as the recognition of fibre – material combinations.
The use of techniques associated with the external attachment of the composite
plates to the soffit of decks and then underside of beams is attractive due to factors
related to the ease of access and decreased need for extensive changes to the existing
structures. Although the bonding of steel plates has been used for quite some time it has
been plagued by various problems ranging in difficulty in placement to concerns related
to overall durability.
Composite plates do not suffer from these deficiencies, due to the high stiffness
and strength to weight ratio, corrosion resistance and lightweight. However, an aspect
that needs to be kept in mind during the design of such schemes is that related to long-
term environmental durability of the composite and the durability and effectiveness of the
adhesive bond between the concrete and composites.
Failure due to material aspects of the assembly can generally be associated with
one or a combination of the following modes
1. Peel failure into concrete.
2. Interfacial failure between concrete and adhesive.
3. Cohesive failure in the adhesive.

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 4. Interfacial crack between the adhesive and concrete.
5. Alternating crack path between the two interfaces.
The first mode of failure occurs due to high peel stresses caused by mismatch and
concentration of shear stresses at the end of composite plates. Also it should be
remembered that the bond between the concrete is through an adhesive or the actual resin
itself and therefore one needs to pay attention to aspects such as moisture intrusion,
freeze-thaw etc.

9 SUMMARY
Composites have immense potential for use in civil infrastructure in applications
ranging from rehabilitation to new construction. However for these applications to be
successful in terms of economics and longevity proper attention needs to be paid to the
selection of materials and the processes used to fabricate and place these composites in
the field. Errors in this regard through the inappropriate use of a material system or
manufacturing technique should not be considered as flaws on the part of the technology,
but rather on the designer’s part. Composites present immense opportunities for tailoring
and for the integration of form and function, presenting the civil engineer a plethora of
design opportunities.
REFERENCES:
Cahn R.W. and Harris.B.[1970], “Natures of composites” –Glass reinforced plastics –
Brian Parkyn, Butterworth Publications,England.
Carles W.Dolan , 1999,”FRP Prestressing in the USA”,Concrete International Vol.21,No
.10, pp.21-24
Norman R.H., Stom M.H. and W.C. Wake,[1970],“Resin Glass Interface”- Glass

reinforced plastics – Brian Parkyn. , Butterworth Publications,England.

Sami H. Rizkalla [Dec 18-20,1995], “FRP for the 21st Century”- International Conference

on Fibre Reinforced Structural Plastics in Civil Engineering, IIT Madras

Balaguru, Perumal Swamy. N, Chang and Peter, “ High Strength Composites For Repair

Rehabilitation and Strengthening of concrete Structures (ICI Journal : Jan- Mar 2003)

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Balaguru and Shah, Text boon on “Fibre Reinforced Cement Composites”.

American Society For Metals, Source book on “Reinforced Plastics For Commercial

Composites”

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