Short-term durability test for GFRP rods under various environmental conditions

This paper presents the results of short-term durability test for GFRP rods exposed to various environmental conditions. The main objective of this study is to investigate the degradation of GFRP composite using an accelerated aging method and its influence on the tensile properties. Two types of E-glass/vinylester rods were exposed to moisture, chloride, alkali, and freeze-thaw cycling conditions for up to 132 days. In order to examine the degradation of the GFRP composite in micro level, strand-type E-glass/vinylester rod specimens were also fabricated and tested. The test results indicated that the tensile properties of the GFRP rods were significantly reduced after conditioning, due to the degradation of GFRP.