DURABILITY AND LONG-TERM BEHAVIOR OF CARBON AND ARAMID FRP TENDONS

Fiber reinforced plastics (FRPs) provide a potential solution to the corrosion problem of steel tendons. This paper presents durability test results of two carbon tendons and one aramid FRP tendon exposed to simulated field conditions. Carbon and aramid tendons exhibited excellent durability under exposure to freeze-thaw cycles, alkaline, acidic and deicing salt solutions. In addition, the fatigue and relaxation behaviors were also examined. Relaxation losses increased with the increase in initial stress ratio, and temperature, and they were higher in solutions than in air. In general, carbon tendons exhibited excellent fatigue characteristics for stresses up to 70% of ultimate strength and stress range up to 10% of ultimate.