Mechanical and Bond Behavior of Thermoplastic GFRP Bars at Elevated Temperature and After Heat Exposure
摘要
This paper presents an experimental study on the tensile properties and bond behavior to concrete of a glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bar produced with acrylic thermoplastic resin at elevated temperature, as well as its residual properties after heat exposure. The study included tensile tests on the bars and pull-out tests in concrete cylinders, aiming: (i) to assess the degradation of the tensile and bond properties (strength and stiffness) at constant elevated temperature (ranging from 50 ℃ to 250 ℃), and (ii) to evaluate the residual (post-heating) properties at ambient temperature after 1 h of exposure to specific temperatures (50 ℃ to 250 ℃). The degradation with temperature of the tensile and bond properties of the thermoplastic bar was compared with data available in the literature for conventional GFRP bars made with thermoset resins. Compared to its thermoset counterparts, the tensile strength of the thermoplastic bar showed higher degradation at elevated temperature, decreasing by 74% at 200 ℃, while the reductions in bond strength and tensile modulus (90% and 28%, respectively) were comparable to the lower bound of the variation range reported in the literature for thermoset GFRP bars. Nonetheless, a significant portion of the property degradation caused by matrix’ glass transition was shown to be reversible after cooling: in specimens heated at 200 ℃ and then cooled and tested at ambient temperature, the bond strength, and the tensile strength and modulus retention were respectively 78%, 53% and 25% higher than the corresponding retained properties at elevated temperature.