Thermoplastic Impregnated Textile Reinfrocement for the Industrial Realisation of Complex Shaped Concrete Elements

Resource-efficient design and lightweight construction represent a central approach to sustainable development and production in the construction industry. For more than two decades, textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) has been researched as a material-efficient solution for the production of high-strength and thin-walled components, transferring lightweight potential to the construction industry. However, the increase in mechanical performance due to impregnation of the textile reinforcement is often at the expense of shape flexibility and design freedom. Therefore, application mostly focuses on two-dimensional slabs. For more complex elements such as T-beams and aesthetic features, e.g. shell systems, three dimensional reinforcement cages are needed. The use of thermoplastic impregnation materials facilitates the flexible realisation of reinforcement geometries due to their thermal deformation behaviour. Within this study, the mechanical behaviour of the thermoplastic impregnated reinforcement on textile and composite level are analysed. It is shown that tensile strength of the reinforcements up to 1300 MPa, which is well in range of the commonly applied impregnation materials. In addition it is shown, that the shaping process under elevated temperature is no cause for decrease of the mechanical performance of the textile reinforcement. In conclusion, it is shown that the application of thermoplastic impregnation shows potential for the realisation of application- and product-specific geometries of reinforcement cages without sacrificing mechanical performance.