Recently, fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP lamina) have
been applied to glued-laminated (glulam) timber for the
purpose of improving bending strength and stiffness.
Initially, full length reinforcement using FRP lamina was
developed. However, the cost of FRP lamina is a significant
portion of the total cost of reinforced glulam. Therefore,
it is...
The composite FRP rebars research at Oregon State University was initiated in
1993 principally to develop a non-metallic hollow reinforcement. It was recognized that
the tensile properties of such reinforcement are unquestionably superior to steel, but its
performance in concrete could be problematic. The bond between FRP rebars and
concrete...
The reinforcement of wood and wood composite structural products to improve
their mechanical properties has been in practice for many years. Recently, the use of high-strength
fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) as a reinforcement in such applications has been
commercialized.
The reinforcement is manufactured using a standard pultrusion process or
alternatively a...
Equipment and procedures for the rapid measurement of the water vapor
permeability of polymer films and food coatings has been evaluated. The
method uses an electronic sensor to measure the concentration increase in
water vapor diffusing through a film into a chamber of known volume. Air of
known humidity is...
Polymeric composites exhibit time-dependent behavior, which raises a concern
about their long term durability and leads to a viscoelastic study of these materials.
Linear viscoelastic analysis has been found to be inadequate because many polymers
exhibit nonlinear viscoelastic behavior. Classical laminate theory is commonly used in
the study of laminated...
The global motivation for this work comes from the desire to fabricate "plastic lumber" with improved mechanical properties (particularly creep resistance) from recycled plastics and wood composites. The present studies have utilized "virgin plastics" of polystyrene (PS), an amorphous, stiff material that exhibits brittle fracture, and high density polyethylene (HDPE),...