Determination of the Thermal Properties of Pre-stressed Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Concrete

Abstract

AbstractWith its low thermal conductivity and high thermal capacity, polymer concrete has excellent thermal properties that when used in machine tools ensure increased accuracy of the manufactured parts. Polymer concrete has been used successfully in machine tool construction for many years in the form of machine beds. The aforementioned thermal properties in combination with a low density, high damping and a lower primary energy requirement also make polymer concrete interesting for use as a structural component. However, the comparatively low tensile strength and creep tendency of the material pose a challenge here. One approach to increase the tensile strength of the material is the integration of prestressed carbon fibres into the material. In order to clarify the suitability of this hybrid material, its temperature behaviour is investigated in this paper. The focus is on the investigation of residual stresses that arise during heating, which result from the combination of the positive thermal expansion coefficient of polymer concrete with the negative thermal expansion coefficient of the carbon fibres. In addition, the flexural properties of pure polymer concrete and of pre-stressed fibre-reinforced polymer concrete are determined at different test temperatures within the scope of this paper. It is shown that the prestressing of fiber-reinforced polymer concrete leads to an improvement of the flexural strength and the stiffness of polymer concrete.