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Special Issue "Fiber Reinforced Polymers"

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A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Physics and Theory".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 14471

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Togay Ozbakkaloglu

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Guest Editor

Ingram School of Engineering, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA
Interests: structural engineering; construction materials; smart and high-performance infrastructure materials; high-strength and high performance concretes; waste-based concretes; geopolymers; fiber reinforced polymers (frps); composites incorporating recycled materials; green composites; biocomposites; structural applications of composites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Aliakbar Gholampour

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Guest Editor

Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
Interests: fiber-reinforced polymer composites; nanocomposites; advanced construction materials; sustainability; waste-based concrete
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Dr. Thomas Vincent

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Guest Editor

College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, South Australia 5042, Australia
Interests: fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs); concrete; high-strength concrete (HSC); confinement; concrete-filled FRP tube (CFFT); waste-based concrete
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fiber-reinforced polymers are multipurpose materials widely used in advanced applications due to their excellent properties, e.g., their low production time, ability to produce long-term cost saving, light weight, and high durability properties. This Special Issue of Polymers is dedicated to fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs). We are expecting to receive papers dealing with cutting-edge issues on the research and application of FRP composites in different areas.

The topics of this Special Issue include but are not limited to the durability and mechanical properties of FRPs, FRPs that are manufactured using different types of fibers (including recycled and natural fibers), FRPs containing nanomaterials, composite members manufactured with FRPs, retrofitting with FRP composites, the long-term properties of FRPs, fire protection for FRPs, and applications of FRPs. Both original contributions and reviews are welcome.

Prof. Togay Ozbakkaloglu
Dr. Aliakbar Gholampour
Dr. Thomas Vincent
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs)
FRP composites
Durability
Mechanical properties
Nanomaterials
Fire resistance
Natural fibers
Recycled fibers
New composite members
Retrofit

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Impact Characteristics and Detection of Internal Defects for Unidirectional Carbon Composites with Respect to Fiber Orientation

Sun-ho Go

Alexandre Tugirumubano

and

Hong-gun Kim

Polymers 2021, 13(2), 203; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13020203 - 08 Jan 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1089

Abstract

With the increasing use of carbon fiber reinforced plastics in various fields, carbon fiber composites based on prepregs have attracted attention in industries and academia research. However, prepreg manufacturing processes are costly, and the strength of structures varies depending on the orientation and defects (pores and delamination). For the non-contact evaluation of internal defects, the lock-in infrared thermography was proposed to investigate the defects in the composites subjected to the compression after impact test (CAI). The drop-weight impact test was conducted to study the impact behavior of the composites according to fibers orientation for composite fabricated using unidirectional (UD) carbon fiber prepregs. Using CAI tests, the residual compressive strengths were determined, and the damage modes were detected using a thermal camera. The results of the drop weight impact tests showed that the specimen laminated at 0° suffered the largest damage because of susceptibility of the resin to impact. The specimens with 0°/90° and +45°/−45° fibers orientation exhibited more than 90% of the impact energy absorption and good impact resistance. Furthermore, the specimens that underwent the impact tests were subjected to compressive test simultaneously with the lock-in thermography defects detection. The results showed that internal delamination, fibers splitting, and broken fibers occurred. The temperature differences in the residual compression tests were not significant. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fiber Reinforced Polymers)

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Open AccessArticle

Development of Lightweight and High-Performance Ballistic Helmet Based on Poly(Benzoxazine-co-Urethane) Matrix Reinforced with Aramid Fabric and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Jusmin Daungkumsawat

Manunya Okhawilai

Krittapas Charoensuk

Radhitya Banuaji Prastowo

Chanchira Jubsilp

Panagiotis Karagiannidis

and

Sarawut Rimdusit

Polymers 2020, 12(12), 2897; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12122897 - 03 Dec 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1797

Abstract

This study aims to develop a lightweight ballistic helmet based on nanocomposite with matrix of the copolymer of benzoxazine with an urethane prepolymer [poly(BA-a-co-PU)], at mass ratio 80/20, reinforced with aramid fabric and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). This has a protection level II according to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) 0106.01 standard. The effects of MWCNTs mass content in a range of 0 to 2 wt% on tensile, physical and ballistic impact properties of the nanocomposite were investigated. The results revealed that the introduction of MWCNTs enhanced the tensile strength and energy at break of the nanocomposite; the highest values were obtained at 0.25 wt%. In addition, the nanocomposite laminate with 20 plies of aramid fabric showed the lowest back face deformation of 8 mm which was much lower than that specified by the NIJ standard. According to Military Standard (MIL-STD) 662F, the simulation prediction revealed that the ballistic limit of the ballistic helmet nanocomposite was as high as 632 m s⁻¹. The developed laminates made of aramid fabric impregnated with poly(BA-a-co-PU) 80/20 containing 0.25 wt% MWCNTs showed great promise for use as a light weight and high-performance ballistic helmet. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fiber Reinforced Polymers)

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Open AccessArticle

Carbon, Glass and Basalt Fiber Reinforced Polybenzoxazine: The Effects of Fiber Reinforcement on Mechanical, Fire, Smoke and Toxicity Properties

Nick Wolter

Vinicius Carrillo Beber

and

Polymers 2020, 12(10), 2379; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12102379 - 15 Oct 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2135

Abstract

Bisphenol F and aniline-based benzoxazine monomers were selected to fabricate basalt, glass and carbon fiber reinforced polybenzoxazine via vacuum infusion, respectively. The impacts of the type of fiber reinforcement on the resulting material properties of the fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs) were studied. FRPs exhibited a homogenous morphology with completely impregnated fibers and near-zero porosity. Carbon fiber reinforced polybenzoxazine showed the highest specific mechanical properties because of its low density and high modulus and strength. However, regarding the flammability, fire, smoke and toxicity properties, glass and basalt reinforced polybenzoxazine outperformed carbon fiber reinforced polybenzoxazine. This work offers a deeper understanding of how different types of fiber reinforcement affect polybenzoxazine-based FRPs and provides access to FRPs with inherently good fire, smoke and toxicity performance without the need for further flame retardant additives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fiber Reinforced Polymers)

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Open AccessArticle

Axial Strength of Eccentrically Loaded FRP-Confined Short Concrete Columns

Cheng Jiang

and

Yu-Fei Wu

Polymers 2020, 12(6), 1261; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12061261 - 31 May 2020

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 2267

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental program that includes 78 fiber reinforced polymer (FRP)-confined square concrete columns subjected to eccentric loading. The degradation of the axial strength of FRP-confined short concrete columns due to the load eccentricity is investigated in this work. A larger load eccentricity leads to a greater decrease in the axial strength. From the test results, it is found that FRP confinement can cause less strength degradation compared with that of unconfined concrete specimens. For FRP-confined square concrete specimens, the strength enhancement due to FRP confinement increases with increasing load eccentricity. However, the increasing load eccentricity decreases the confinement efficiency for FRP-confined circular concrete specimens. The relationship between the strength of eccentrically loaded FRP-confined square columns and their corner radii is evaluated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fiber Reinforced Polymers)

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Open AccessArticle

Reliability Analysis of FRP-Confined Concrete at Ultimate using Conjugate Search Direction Method

and

Polymers 2020, 12(3), 707; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12030707 - 23 Mar 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2248

Abstract

In this paper compressive strength and ultimate strain results in the current database of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)-confined concrete are used to determine the reliability of their design space. The Lognormal, Normal, Frechet, Gumbel, and Weibull distributions are selected to evaluate the probabilistic characteristics of six FRP material categories. Following this, safety levels of the database are determined based on a probabilistic model. An iterative reliability method is developed with conjugate search direction for evaluating the reliability. The results show that Lognormal and Gumbel distributions provide best probability distribution for model errors of strength and strain enhancement ratios. The developed conjugate reliability method provides improved robustness over the existing reliability methods owing to its faster convergence to stable results. The results reveal that the part of the database containing normal strength concrete (NSC) heavily confined (i.e., actual confinement ratio (f_lu,a/f’_co) > 0.5) by low and normal modulus carbon fibers (i.e., fiber elastic modulus (E_f) ≤ 260 GPa) and moderately confined (i.e., 0.3 ≤ f_lu,a/f’_co ≤ 0.5) by aramid fibers exhibits a very high safety level. The segments of the database with a low and moderate safety level have been identified as i) NSC moderately and heavily confined by higher modulus glass fibers (i.e., E_f > 60 GPa), ii) high strength concrete (HSC) moderately and heavily confined (i.e., f_lu,a/f’_co > 0.3) by glass fibers, iii) HSC lightly confined (i.e., f_lu,a/f’_co ≤ 0.2) by carbon fibers, and iv) HSC lightly confined by aramid fibers. Additional experimental studies are required on these segments of the database before they can be used reliably for design and modeling purposes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fiber Reinforced Polymers)

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Review

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Open AccessReview

Defect Characteristics and Online Detection Techniques During Manufacturing of FRPs Using Automated Fiber Placement: A Review

Jaspreet Singh Dhupia

and

Yang Wang

Polymers 2020, 12(6), 1337; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12061337 - 12 Jun 2020

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 4069

Abstract

Automated fiber placement (AFP) is an advanced manufacturing method for composites, which is especially suitable for large-scale composite components. However, some manufacturing defects inevitably appear in the AFP process, which can affect the mechanical properties of composites. This work aims to investigate the recent works on manufacturing defects and their online detection techniques during the AFP process. The main content focuses on the position defect in conventional and variable stiffness laminates, the relationship between the defects and the mechanical properties, defect control methods, the modeling method for a void defect, and online detection techniques. Following that, the contributions and limitations of the current studies are discussed. Finally, the prospects of future research concerning theoretical and practical engineering applications are pointed out. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fiber Reinforced Polymers)

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