Thursday, 10 January 2013

GLASS FIBER REINFORCED CONRETE


Glass fiber reinforced composite materials consist of high strength glass fiber embedded in a cementitious matrix. In this form, both fibers and matrix retain their physical and chemical identities, yet they produce a combination of properties that can not be achieved with either of the components acting alone. In general fibers are the principal load-carrying members, while the surrounding matrix keeps them in the desired locations and orientation, acting as a load transfer medium between them, and protects them from environmental damage.”
GFRC is a form of concrete that uses fine sand, cement, polymer (usually an acrylic polymer), water, other admixtures and alkali-resistant (AR) glass fibers. Many mix designs are freely available on various websites, but all share similarities in ingredient proportions.
GFRC History and Application
GFRC was originally developed in the 1940’s in Russia, but it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the current form came into widespread use.
Commercially, GFRC is used to make large, lightweight panels that are often used as façades. These panels are considered non-structural, in that they are designed to support their own weight plus seismic and wind loadings, much in the way glass window curtain walls are designed. The panels are considered lightweight because of the thinness of the material, not because GFRC concrete has a significantly lower density than normal concrete. On average it weighs about the same as ordinary concrete on a volume basis.


1 comment:

  1. could you please increase your topics...that could help in preparing projects

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