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Civil Engineering Applications of Polymer Composites

Article  in  International Journal of Polymer Science · February 2016

DOI: 10.1155/2016/3941504

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Hindawi Publishing Corporation
International Journal of Polymer Science
Volume 2016, Article ID 3941504, 2 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/3941504

Editorial
Civil Engineering Applications of Polymer Composites

Gonzalo Martínez-Barrera,1 Osman Gencel,2 and João M. L. Reis3

1
Laboratorio de Investigación y Desarrollo de Materiales Avanzados (LIDMA), Facultad de Quı́mica,
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Km 12 de la Carretera Toluca-Atlacomulco, 50200 San Cayetano, MEX, Mexico
2
Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Bartin University, 74100 Bartin, Turkey
3
Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Laboratory (LMTA), Universidade Federal Fluminense, 24220 Niterói, RJ, Brazil

Correspondence should be addressed to Gonzalo Martı́nez-Barrera; gonzomartinez02@yahoo.com.mx

Received 28 December 2015; Accepted 29 December 2015

Copyright © 2016 Gonzalo Martı́nez-Barrera et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.

Researches have been done in order to improve perfor-
mance of concrete and structures. As we know, polymers
provide huge opportunities for the advancement of materials
research, the improvement of material property, and the
strengthening of structures damaged. In this respect, recent
developments about polymer composites and their techno-
logical developments in civil engineering are aimed in this
issue.
Topics include recovery and modification of waste and
recycled tire polymer fibers and their use as reinforcements of
concrete. A novel proposal based on the modification of the
physicochemical properties of the waste automotive tire par-
ticles, by using gamma irradiation, shows that improvements
on the mechanical properties depend of gamma irradiation
as well as concentration and size of waste tire particles.
Another study shows that PP fibers can be substituted with
higher amount of recycled tire polymer fibers obtaining
concrete with similar shrinkage behavior. Such applications
would contribute to solving the problem of waste tire dis-
posal. Waste materials from Tetra Pak packages have been
used as reinforcement of polymer concrete elaborated with
unsaturated polyester resin and silica sand and submitted
to gamma irradiation. The results show improvements on
both compressive strength and flexural strength, as well as
modulus of elasticity when polymer concrete is irradiated.
Other studies are concerned with latex polymer cemen-
titious composites (LCCs), for example, polypropylene fibers
used in cementitious composites containing nanosilica and
styrene butadiene latex polymer, where the addition of
nanosilica significantly affected the bond strength and inter-
facial toughness between macro-PP fiber and cementitious
composites. Synthesis of polymers for stabilization of min-
erals, for example, synthesis of high molecular weight poly-
acrylamide (PAM) and its application as sand stabilizer:
the results showed that the use of high molecular weight
polymer gave excellent mechanical and thermal stability to
the polymer-sand composite. Other applications of acrylic
resins can be found in the paper about environmental impacts
on the strength parameters of mineral-acrylic facade panels,
elaborated with natural minerals produced from bauxite
(aluminium hydroxides, ATH) and from acrylic resin (poly-
methyl methacrylate, PMMA) and subjected to aging process
in conditions of high temperature, high relative humidity,
freeze-thaw cycles, and UV radiation.
Studies have been carried out by using fiber rein-
forced polymer (FRP) materials; as we know, FRP materials
have advantages such as corrosion resistance, light weight,
machinability, workability, and high strength. The shear
capacities of concrete beams reinforced with glass fiber
reinforced polymer (GFRP) plates as shear reinforcement
have been studied. Also experimental assessment on the
flexural bonding performance of concrete beam with GFRP
reinforces bar under repeated loading. Moreover, structural
behavior of concrete columns internally reinforced with
glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) rebars shows that the
amount of GFRP longitudinal and lateral reinforcement
slightly affects the column strength. another study is focused
on the behavior of full-scale porous GFRP barrier under
blast loads; a discontinuous (porous) barrier composed by
precast concrete reinforced with GFRP bars was studied to
take advantage of electromagnetic and mechanical properties
as well as mitigating blast shock waves.
2 International Journal of Polymer Science

The use of high performance composite fibers allows for

the improvement of the mechanical properties of cement
composites, which are determined predominantly by the
interface properties between the fiber and cementitious
matrix. Studies on the interface bond between fiber and
cementitious matrix are discussed. The results show improve-
ment on the compressive strength according to the embed-
ment length of the fibers; moreover, chemical bond strength
was independent of the water-to-binder ratio. Other studies
cover experimental and analytical research results for predict-
ing the flexural capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) beams
strengthened in flexure with fabric reinforced cementitious
matrix (FRCM). It was confirmed that the slippage between
the FRP fabric and matrix occurs at a high strain level.
Unreinforced masonry (URM) structures represent a
significant portion of existing historical structures around the
world. Recent earthquakes have shown the need for seismic
retrofitting for URM structures. A strengthening technique
using externally bonded (EB) fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)
composites has attracted engineers since enhancing the shear
strength of URM walls with negligible change to cross-
sectional area and weight of the walls. Results show that
FRP composites were effective to increase shear strength.
Confining of damaged or corroded concrete columns with
FRP sheets is always interesting for researches. However,
the performance of this strengthening system at elevated
temperature is still questionable. The effects of elevated
temperatures on the compressive strength capacity of carbon
and glass FRP-confined concrete cylinders are shown.
Experimental investigation on failure behavior of the
notched concrete beam strengthened with carbon fiber rein-
forced polymer (CFRP) is studied, including the influences
of the length, thickness, and methods of bonding of CFRP
laminate on the ultimate bearing capacity and the failure
modes of the reinforced beam. A comparison between a
theoretical analysis and the experimental observation shows
that the failure modes observed in the experimental study
are in agreement with the analytically predicted failure
modes. another research is concerned with the effects of
hooked-end steel fiber contents on the mechanical properties
of high performance concrete (HPC) and investigates the
feasibility of utilizing steel fibers to simplify the complicated
reinforcement detailing of critical HPC members under high
shear stress. It is also recommended that both stirrups and
steel fiber should be used for fully confining the diagonal bar
groups of coupling beams to achieve the ductile behavior.
Gonzalo Martı́nez-Barrera
Osman Gencel
João M. L. Reis
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