Effect of Temperature on Material Properties of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) Tendons: Experiments and Model Assessment

Material properties at elevated temperatures are important factors in the fire safety design and numerical analysis of concrete members strengthened with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. Most of the previous research mainly focused on tensile strength and elastic modulus in conventional steady state temperature tests. However, the transient state test method is more realistic for strengthening concrete structures. At the same time, the coefficient of thermal expansion of FRP composites is also one of the important factors affecting concrete members at elevated temperatures. This paper presents a detailed experimental investigation on the longitudinal thermal expansion deformation, and the mechanical properties of carbon FRP (CFRP) tendons with 8 mm diameter in the steady state and transient state. The results indicate that longitudinal deformation of CFRP tendons is negative at high temperature; in addition, the transient state test results of CFRP tendons are slightly higher than the steady state test results. The final part of this paper assesses the accuracy of different empirical models. Furthermore, a new equation calculating the properties of CFRP composites at elevated temperatures is presented with the numerical fitting technique, which is in good agreement with the experimental results.