Given that fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bars have high strength, excellent corrosion and fatigue resistance, and a very high strength-to-weight ratio, much research is currently examining their use a reinforcing material to replace reinforcing bars in concrete Structures.[2]
However, despite a hardness-to-weight ratio that is 10~15 times higher than that of reinforcing bars, FRP bars have disadvantages, including brittle properties that
behave like linear-elastic stress-strain until failure and smaller elasticity coefficients than reinforcing bars.
In particular, the mechanical properties of FRP bars are affected not only by the kinds of fiber and matrix used in their manufacture, the volume fraction of the fiber and matrix, and stress transfer from the bar surface to the interior but also by the fact that these properties can be changed by the manufacturing process or curing ratio and quality control of the resin.[2][5]
Nanoparticles not only have a high surface area but, in addition, their strong interaction with the matrix and lighter weight dimensional stability, due to the high aspect ratio, further improve their strength, hardness, heat-resistance and barrier properties, as compared with standard fillers.[1][3]
In addition, we can expect synergistic effects between an inorganic nanomaterial and organic matrix. [4]
Therefore, we manufactured glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars by adding nano-clay and nanosilica to improve the performance over existing GFRP bars and analyzed their performance.