Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) is a kind of composite material composed of carbon fiber and polymer and used to improve buildings with carbon fiber.
The carbon fiber provides strength and resistance while the polymer acts as a cohesive matrix to protect and hold the fibers together. CFRP is produced in the form of strips, rods and sheets using various manufacturing techniques such as filament winding, distillation and hand laying processes.
CFRP materials have good strength, low density, corrosion resistance, vibration resistance, high ultimate stress, high fatigue resistance and low thermal conductivity, and are widely used in building reinforcement.
Features carbon fiber or CFRP
Carbon fiber provides an ideal solution to many problems associated with strengthening infrastructure such as bridges and buildings.
The use of carbon fiber reinforced plastic rebar in new concrete can eliminate potential corrosion problems and significantly increase the structural strength of members.
The effective use of carbon fiber reinforced polymers can significantly increase the strength of buildings and reduce maintenance needs.
Carbon fiber has also been used as a reinforcement for worn plastic to strengthen lightweight, high-strength, high-rigidity structures. Carbon fiber is one of the most widely used fibers in the manufacture of composite materials, and this fiber has the highest modulus of elasticity compared to glass and Kevlar fibers.
Among the various advantages of carbon fiber, the most notable is its exceptional tensile strength-to-weight ratio. One of the most prominent features of carbon fiber is its impermeability against X-rays. It is available on the market as fabric windows, and building improvements using carbon fiber have become very popular today.
Carbon fiber is an element with a density of 2.27 grams per cubic centimeter and has different crystalline forms and is mostly used to improve and strengthen buildings.
Carbon fiber filaments, made from carbon fibres, are much thinner than a human hair and are between 6 and 10 microns in diameter.
The effect of carbon fiber on building improvement
In building improvement using carbon fibers based on polyacrylonitrile, the fiber structure changes from a linear chain structure to a sheet structure during oxidation and carbonization stabilization.
When the stabilization step is done correctly, the tensile strength is greatly increased by tensile carbonization in the final carbon fiber product.
In general, the strength and tear strength of CFRP are related to the core fiber type, process conditions, heat treatment temperature, and the presence of structural defects in the fiber.
The effect of carbon fiber on building strengthening is due to the unique properties that we will mention below.
Corrosion resistant
Corrosion resistance is one of the most important reasons for using carbon fiber for corrosion control and reconstruction of reinforced concrete structures.
High strength
CFRP has a high strength-to-weight ratio, thus eliminating the need for heavy building equipment and supporting structures. Its preparation requires a short cooking time. Therefore, the program takes less time. This significantly reduces project duration and structural failure time and strengthens the building.
Ease of transportation
Due to their lightness, precast CFRP parts are easy to transport. Therefore, this encourages prefabricated construction, reduces the cost of on-site installation workers and investment requirements and improves the building with carbon fiber.
Ways to improve the building using carbon fiber
- CFRP strips in building improvement using carbon fiber
There are several technologies to strengthen buildings such as externally glued carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) sheets and near-surface FRP.
The performance of strengthening methods depends on the strength of the adhesive used to bond the CFRP to the concrete surface and the amount of stress at the interface between the concrete and the CFRP.
Building with carbon fiber is easier and cheaper than steel structures. Carbon fiber makes up only 20% of the weight of similar rebar made of high-strength steel, but it is at least four times stronger.
The high strength-to-weight ratio makes CFRP strips easy to move and reduces installation costs.
- CFRP skins or carbon fiber skins
CFRP sleeves are used for rebuilding masonry columns, corrosion control and rebuilding reinforced concrete columns. It is also used to build earthquake-resistant structures.
The addition of CFRP sheets greatly increases the ultimate bending moment capacity of the reinforced shear wall.
But in order for the FRP sheet to withstand the high axial loads generated by the bending anchor imposed on the shear wall, the CFRP sheets must be adequately placed at the base of the anchor wall.
- CFRP laminates
Carbon fiber strips with low thermal expansion are used to strengthen construction components such as beams and bridge columns. CFRP is used to strengthen steel bridges faster, cheaper and easier. - CFRP bars
Carbon fiber rebars are used in the construction of new buildings, the improvement of old buildings, and the strengthening of reinforced concrete structures using near-surface cemented carbon fiber reinforcement technology.
Ways to improve the building
Today, various methods are used to strengthen buildings, the most important of which are FRP and carbon fiber. The selection of the best improvement method should be recognized by experienced and professional experts so that the desired result is obtained after strengthening the structures.
You can go to the Pekran Sazan website and contact our experts to get advice on improving the building using carbon fiber and strengthening the building.