Description
Composites materials (also known as fibre reinforced polymers - FRP) are being increasingly used in civil structural applications due to their advantages over conventional materials. Regarding durability, the relatively long experience of using FRP in various applications provides evidence of their improved performance, namely in relatively harsh conditions. However, such empirical experience also highlights aspects such as (i) susceptibility to degradation due to several environmental agents, and (ii) lack of data for relatively thick laminates produced by pultrusion. To address this, an extensive experimental program about the durability of relatively thick pultruded glass-FRP (GFRP) plates, combining laboratory and in-situ field tests is carried out. This paper presents preliminary results from the thermal ageing environments of GFRP plates produced by pultrusion under different temperatures, namely -15 ºC, 20 ºC, 40 ºC and 60 ºC for 12 months, and thermal cycling between -15 ºC and 60 ºC for 100 and 200 cycles. After exposure, the degradation of the thermomechanical and mechanical properties of the aged GFRP plates was evaluated by means of different types of tests, namely: dynamic mechanical analysis, tension, compression, flexural, in-plane shear and interlaminar shear.
