The Examination of the Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Rods in Terms of the Application for Concrete Reinforcement

GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer) rods have found a wide range of applications in building structures as reinforcement of concrete bearing elements. In no time on the market appeared a few producers who are offering a wide assortment of diameters. In this paper, applied test procedures and their results for GFRP rods are presented. Rods made by three manufacturers, with declared diameter 12 mm, have been analyzed. The tensile strength, elasticity modulus and ultimate limit strain, based on the static tensile test, were compared. These resultants were compared with tensile strength obtained for widespread use reinforcement steel AIIIN. Different results of composite rods destroying process are discussed. It worth stressing the great discrepancy between the declared and real diameter of tested rods, which may result in an inability to simple conversion between conventional steel reinforcement to composites in structural elements.