Bond Performance of FRP Reinforcing Bar for Concrete Structures after Chemical Environmental Exposure

FRP reinforcing bars(rebars) are produced through a variety of manufacturing process includes pultrusion, and filament winding and braiding etc. Each manufacturing method produces a different surface condition of FRP rebar. The surface properties of FRP rebar is an important property for mechanical bond with concrete. Current methods of providing surface deformation to FRP rebars include helical wrapping, surfaces and coating and rib molding. The problem with the helical wrapping method is that it can not provide enough surface deformation for good bond and it can be easily sheard off from the FRP rebars. Sand coating and rib molding provide surface deformation only to the outer FRP skins. Therefore, FRP rebar has about 60% of bond strength of steel rebar. The main objective was to evaluate the bond properties of FRP rebar after environmental exposure. Five types of FRP rebar includes CFRP ISO, GFRP Aslan, AFRP Technora CFRP(Korea), and GFRP(Korea) rebars performed direct bond tests. Also, FRP rebar bond specimens were subjected to exposure conditions including alkaline solution, acid solution, salt solution and deionized water etc. According to bond test results, CFRP(Korea) and CFRP(Korea) rebars were found to have better bond strength with concrete than previous FRP rebars. Also, FRP(Korea) rebar had more than about 70% in bond strength of steel rebar.