Abstract
Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRPs) are widely used in marine sector owing to their high specific strength and resistance to marine corrosion. For naval application, additional advantages are transparency to radar wave and better vibration damping than metals. The use of various FRPs in off-shore structures and marine vessels needs analysis of desired properties considering the types of matrices and fiber. The common consideration is effect of sea water on the properties of the FRP. This chapter gives a brief on use of different FRPs in various areas such as off-shore pillars, Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) enclosers, primary and secondary marine components. A brief discussion is included here on diffusion models and estimation of durability by a time-temperature superposition principle applied to water ingress and corresponding change in mechanical strength of FRPs with examples. The effect of microbial activity on the damage of FRP is not very much reported in literature. It is known that sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are the most damaging microbes for FRP. In conclusion, it is highlighted that vinyl-ester-based FRPs using glass and carbon fibers are best for marine application. To determine the realistic service life in marine environment, Vinyl Ester- FRP (VE-FRP) are to be simultaneously studied for damage due to sea water and the microbes such SRB.
Highlights
Use of Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRPs) is rapidly expanding in all fields such as medical equipment, engineering plants, packaging, transportation, aviation, space technology, building construction, heavy vehicles, and defense forces
The results clearly show the effect of debonding of the fiber from the epoxy matrix interface thereby drastically reducing the loadbearing capability
Murthy et al [32] showed that the sea water saturation levels in both GFRP and CFRP of vinyl ester are about 0.7% and approximately 0.4% respectively, and there was no reduction in the total weight of the samples even after 450 days of immersion
Summary
Use of Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRPs) is rapidly expanding in all fields such as medical equipment, engineering plants, packaging, transportation, aviation, space technology, building construction, heavy vehicles, and defense forces. Too stiff composites lack toughness, which often cause premature brittle failure It has to be a tread-off between ultimate property and elastic modulus for restricting strain on the one hand and sustain low/high cycle fatigue on the other hand. The fire-retardant additives both as physical addition and chemical modification of resins are widely used and are currently being researched in the light of possible benefits of nanoparticle reinforcements Marine application both for static off-shore structures and sea-going vessels needs robust and durable FRP composites, which can compete well with metals in terms of specific strength, durability, and cost-effectiveness. The second and very important property of an FRP to qualify marine standard is effect of sea water aging considering all the chemical and biological adversaries of the sea This single factor mostly decides the design and service life of a marine-grade FRP structure. These types of coatings are more effective for high-speed boats
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