Development of alternative rebar using natural fibres and sustainable resin

Conventional steel rebars in concrete are prone to corrosion which results in frequent maintenance. Usual maintenance period for steel rebar is 5 years,while major maintenance is needed in every 20 years. This leads to significant maintenance cost. To overcome this, fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) rebars are recently introduced. While these rebars are durable, they require significant energy to produce with poor end-of-life usage. In addition, bonding between FRP – concrete is not as strong compared to its steel – concrete counterparts.

Lastly, the long-term performance of these FRP bars is still not well studied due to the recent incorporation in the construction industry.

The proposed project aims to develop a sustainable alternative of these FRP bars by means of using natural fibres, such as cellulose (e.g., biobased) or natural (e.g., basalt fibre), and sustainable resin system. Various combination of sustainable resin systems and natural fibres will be explored to obtain desire mechanical properties. In addition, bonding between the;developed rebar and surrounded geopolymer concrete will be investigated to improve their interfacial shear properties by introducing surface roughness(chemical or mechanical).

Lastly, some long-term performance of the developed rebar within geopolymer concrete will be investigated. This includes, but are not limited to, creep, environmental fatigue, wet-dry cycle and combination of them. Microstructural analysis will also be performed to understand the material behaviour contributing towards the degradation mechanism of the developed rebar.