Asia-Pacific Conference on FRP in Structures (APFIS 2007)

S.T. Smith (ed)

2007 International Institute for FRP in Construction

DURABILITY OF THE BONDING PERFORMANCE OF FRP-CONCRETE

INTERFACE EXTERNALLY BONDED WITH FRP COMPOSITE SHEET
L.L. Zhang 1, L. Zhang 2 and J.X. Ma 1
1
2

Department of Civil Engineering, Xian Jiaotong University, China.

School of Aeronautics & Aerospace, Xian Jiaotong University, China.

ABSTRACT
The strengthening of concrete structures externally bonded with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheet is
increasingly being used for repair and rehabilitation of existing structures. This paper provides information in the
area of long-term durability of FRP-concrete interface externally bonded with FRP composite sheet. It mainly
discusses and summarizes the influence of harsh environmental exposure condition such as high temperature and
humidity, light ageing, corrosion environment, sea water, wet/dry cycles, freeze/thaw cycles, temperature et al.
Last the future work about the durability of the bonding performance of FRP-concrete interface is put forward.
KEYWORDS
fibre reinforced polymer(FRP), concrete structure, durability, bonding performance
INTRODUCTION
The rapid deterioration of older structures, which is caused by loss of material properties, exposure to harsh
climate, or increase in traffic loads, demands the invention of new methods and materials for rehabilitation.
Comparing with the traditional repair and rehabilitation methods, fiber composites offer unique advantages for
solving many civil engineering problems in areas where conventional materials fail to provide satisfying service
life, such as high tensile strength and stiffness, light weight, and resistance to corrosion and chemicals. A number
of researchers have conducted experimental and analytical investigations on the strength and stiffness of
structural members that are bonded with FRP composites(e.g. Plevris and Triantafillou 1993, Ritcher and
Thomas 1991, Saadatmanesh and Ehsani 1991 et al). Most have shown that structural members strengthened
with FRP composites exhibit much higher ultimate strength and deflection.
Although FRP composites are increasingly being used for the repair and rehabilitation of civil infrastructure,
there is still a lack of well documented long-term durability data, and of design methodologies that explicitly
consider effects of deterioration over time. To apply FRP composites to civil infrastructure better, the long-term
durability should be studied.
RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
Durability of concrete structures externally bonded with FRP composite sheet depends on: the durability of FRP
and bonding performance of FRP-concrete interface, as well as the durability of whole structural systems. Some
researchers have carried out experimental investigation on the performance of carbon fiber reinforced polymer
(CFRP) and glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) subjected to the test environments such as carbonation,
freeze/thaw cycles, wet/dry cycles in salt solution (e.g.Li 2006, Ren 2003). Experimental results show that the
tensile strength of CFRP changes slightly under the environmental conditions, elastic modulus increases,
elongation decreases a little under wet/dry cycles. The mechanical properties of GFRP show different
deterioration degrees under the three kinds of environmental conditions. The mechanical performance of CFRP
is better than that of GFRP in carbonation and freeze/thaw cycles. Anyway, carbonation, freeze/thaw cycles for
limited times and wet/dry cycles in salt solution affect slightly on the tensile performance of CFRP and GFRP.
Some researchers have carried out experimental investigation on the bonding performance of FRP-concrete
interface. A lot of study results show that after the corrosion of the harsh environmental condition, the failures of
the strengthened structures are mainly due to the bonding breakage between the concrete structures and the FRP
sheet. The stripping destruction is brittleness destruction. Before destruction there is no obvious presage. The

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stripping destruction not only brings about the material degradation, but also reduces the strengthening reliability
greatly. So the most important factor influencing the durability is the durability of the bonding performance of
FRP-concrete interface, which is mainly depended on the type and performance of FRP material and saturating
resin, the porosity and permeability of FRP material, the pretreatment of the concrete structure, the type and
curing time of binding material, the outside environmental condition, as well as the outside stress level. Without
regard to the FRP material itself, the most important factors are the binding material and the outside harsh
environment. The binding material can not only make the continuous fibre get together to become overall FRP,
but also make FRP fasten to the concrete structure to bear the outside load commonly. Therefore the choice of
binding material is the key. The study shows that in order to improve the durability of the binding material, we
can add suitable tougheners into the binding materials (Mei 2005).
During the service life, the structures are exposed to harsh climate and environment, such as high temperature
and humidity, chemical corrosion, carbonation, freeze/thaw cycles, and tidal action of seawater etc. This paper
mainly discusses the influence of harsh environmental exposure condition on the durability of the bonding
performance of FRP-concrete interface externally bonded with FRP composite sheet.
THE INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
High Temperature and Humidity
Malvar and Joshi (2003) studied the hardening bonding strength rule of epoxy resin under different temperature
and humidity. The results showed that after hardening under 30 and 95% R.H, the reduction in bonding
strength of epoxy resin was close to 73% compared with the ones hardening under 23and 50% R.H.While the
bonding strength loss of another epoxy resin was 53%. Mikhail Khait and Suraj C exposed the epoxy resin to the
humidity environment at 50.The degradation environment and the results are showed in the Table 1 and Table
2 respectively. Apparently high temperature and humidity can lead to the great degradation of the epoxy resin.
Environment
Moisture
Combined UV
radition and
condensation

Environment
Moisture
UV radition
and
condensation

Table 1. Degradation environment of resin

Exposure condition
Continuous exposure
Relative humidity: 80%
Temperature:50
3 hour repeated cycle
UV:0.68W/m2 irradiance at 340nm
Condensation: 100% relative humidity
Temperature:50

Duration
1320, 2712 and
4098 hours
1320, 2712 and
4098 hours

Table 2. Strength change after different exposure duration

Exposure
Normalized Neat
Flexure Strength
Duration
Epoxy
Epoxy-Clay
0
1.00
1.00
1320
0.61
0.49
2712
0.62
0.49
4098
0.53
0.47
0
1.00
1.00
1320
0.24
0.31
2712
0.17
0.25
4098
0.19
0.26

Relative
Strength
0.0%
-19.4%
-21.3%
-12.2%
0.0%
29.6%
47.9%
37.3%

Ren et al. (2005) also studied the durability of the bonding performance of FRP-concrete interface under wetthermal condition. Three types of CFRP test specimens and two types of GFRP smples were put in the wetthermal environment (40and 98% R.H.) for 1000 hours.They got the same conclusion. After exposing in high
temperature and humidity environment, the bonding strength of resin reduced greatly.
Light Ageing
In fact light causing ageing is mainly the ultraviolet (UV) light in the sunlight whose wavelength is between
290nm to 400nm. UV light can activate the macromolecule chain to dehydrogenate to become free radical, and
the chained fracture chain reactions can take place under the synergistic reaction of oxygen, or the crosslinkings
occur because of the free radical polymerization. The light ageing is mainly UV light ageing.

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Mikhail Khait and Suraj C etc exposed the epoxy resins to UV light for 1320, 2712 and 4098 hours respectively
(MikhailKhait and SurajC ). After UV light radiation for a period of time, the mechanical property of the epoxy
resins were tested, then the tests values were compared with the ones under normal room temperature. The
degradation environment and results are showed in the Table 1 and Table 2 respectively. A very important
conclusion was got that UV light influences the strength degradation of epoxy resin greatly.
Yang and Guo studied the influence of UV light on two kinds of the adhesive specimens of FRP-concrete
bonding property (Yang and Guo 2006). The change tendency of mechanical behavior of CFRP and concrete
was investigated and the test results were analyzed. In this experiment 12 concrete specimens were curing 28 day
under standard environment first. Secondly they were pasted with CFRP sheets. Then after hardening 7 day at
room temperature, they were put into the UV ageing box. In the box 640W UV rays fluorescent tubes were
assembled and the temperature was between 33 and 37. The bonding properties of CFRP-concrete with and
without protection were comparied. The results showed in the Table 3 and Table 4. From these the conslusion
can be drawn that the influence of UV light on bonding property is significant, and protection can slow the
deterioration of bonding strength between CFRP and concrete.
Table 3. Shear bonding strength results of CFRP-contrete after UV irradiation
Average value of Shear Bonding strength (Mpa)
UV Irradiation Duration
(hour)
with protection
without protection
0
1000
2000
3000

2.359
2.008
1.548
1.602

3.052
1.792
1.823
1.594

Table 4. Normal tensile bonding strength results of CFRP-contrete after UV irradiation

Average value of Tensile Bonding strength (Mpa)
UV Irradiation Duration
(hour)
with protection
without protection
0
1000
2000
3000

3.151
3.367
2.771
2.669

3.151
3.492
-

Corrosion Environment
Xiao and Yu (2005) designed and conducted an accelerated test to investigate the basic bonding behavior of
FRP-concrete interface under the corrosion environment of vitriol and sodium hydroxide with a specific
concentration. By the double shear bonding test and normal tensile bonding test, the results showed that the
bonding properties are degenerated obviously before 500 hours accelerated corrosion and then they tend to be
stable in general. Parts of the results are showed in Table 5. The conclusion was drawn in this paper that the
durability of bonding behavior of FRP-concrete interface is fine enough. However the effect of vitriol to the
bonding behavior is more severe than that of sodium hydroxide.
Table 5. Suggested bonding strength under different corrosion environment and time
Compared
Vitriol Solution
Sodium Hydroxide Solution
Group
( pH=4)
(pH=12)
Duration(hour)
0
500
1500
2000 2500
500
1500 2000 2500
Shear Stress (MPa)
2.37
1.37
1.43
1.48
1.32
1.26
1.33
1.81
1.28
Tensile Stress (MPa)
3.15
2.99
2.10
2.04
1.65
2.48
2.96
2.20
1.92
Somjai Kajorncheappunngam et al. (2002) studied bonding behavior of FRP-concrete interface under the
corrosion environment of four different kinds of corrosive medium, namely pure water, sodium chloride, sodium
hydroxide, hydrochloric acid solution. They put the GFRP specimens to the four different kinds of corrosion
environment for a period of time, then tested the mechanical property of the resin and GFRP specimens. The

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results showed that under the high temperature and acidity/alkalinity solution the interface bonding behavior
reduces greatly, whereas the reduce amplitude is the least under the pure water.
Sea Water
Hu and Yang (2006) studied the basic mechanical behaviour of resin in the sea water environment. Fifty sheets
of the resin that include two types of resin were put into sea water in laboratory while doing tensile tests at
intervals. Then the variance law of their strength, modulus and extensibility were obtained. The conclusion was
drawn that the hardening agent affects bonding material performance greatly. The performance change states of
the two types of resin are similar. Their strength and extensibility all decrease, while their modulus changes have
a difference, the corrosion by seawater has greater effect on resins. After 150-day seawater corrosion, the
strength of two types of resin decreased by about 21% and 32% respectively. The results suggest that seawater
affects the bonding durability of FRP-concrete in a great degree. Under seawater environmental suitable resin
must be selected.
Wet/dry Cycles
Houssam and William (1997) studied the effect of harsh environmental conditions such as wet/dry cycles using
salt water on the interfacial bond between the FRP and the concrete beams. Concrete beams were strengthened
with four different types of FRP sheet: two carbon and two glass. Three different types of two-part epoxy were
used. The specimens were conditioned in two different environments: room temperature (+20 ) and 300 wet/dry
cycles (salt water was used for the wet cycles and hot air at 35C and 90% R.H. for the dry). Results showed that
specimens subjected to wet/dry environmental conditions and those kept at room temperature exhibited
significant improvement in flexural strength when FRP sheets were bonded to the tension face of the concrete
beams. However the specimens subjected to wet/dry conditions showed less improvement than those kept at
room temperature. None of the specimens failed due to FRP rupture but rather due to the debonding between the
FRP sheet and the concrete interface. The selection of epoxy was shown to be very important for using the FRP
strengthening technique, especially in a marine environment. Houssam (1999) performed another experiment to
study this problem. The concrete columns externally bonded with FRP sheet were used and the similar
conclusion was drawn.
Guo and Yang (2006) studied the durability of two types of resin caused by wet/dry cycles. In the experiment the
artificial seawater and two types of epoxy resin were studied. One cycle period was 24 hours(namely dry
condition lasted for 12 hours and wet condition lasted for 12 hours). After hardening in standard environment for
7days, the two types of resin were put into the wet/dry alternating ageing box. Then after 30,60,90 and 150
wet/dry cycles, they were placed in room temperature environment for 2 hours. Finally their change tendencies
of mechanical behavior such as tensile strength, elongation ratio and elastic modulus were investigated and the
test results were analyzed. The results showed that the change tendencies of mechanical behavior of two types of
resin are different under the same wet/dry cycles condition. This mainly depends on the chemical property of
resin itself. Furthermore by comparing the diffusion velocity of wet gas into the two types of resin, the
conclusion can be drawn that the mechanical behavior decrease caused by wet/dry cycles of one resin is more
than that of the other resin, in which the diffusion velocity of wet gas is slower. So appropriate material should
be selected according to the different usage environment.
Temperature
The temperature change can increase the bonding shear strength of FRP-concrete interface, because the thermal
expansion coefficients of the concrete and FRP are different. The thermal expansion coefficients of the concrete
is about 1010- 6 per centigrade degree, whereas the one of FRP fiber is about 0.310- 6 per centigrade degree.
When the temperature reaches the glass transition temperature of the resin (about 45 to 80), the bonding
strength would decrease rapidly.
Klamer and Hordijk (2005) studied the influence of different temperature on the bonding performance of CFRPconcrete interface by double shear test. The double shear strength under 20 was the standard value, then the
relative bonding strength values were got. The test results showed that the bonding strength decreased obviously
with the temperature increment. Furthermore the breakage modes caused by different temperature are different.

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From -10 to 40, the double shear breakage mode was mainly the shear breakage of concrete close to the
resin. The thickness of the destructive concrete is 1mm to 3 mm. While the temperature goes up 50 to 70,
due to the softening of resin layer, the double breakage plane appears in the resin layer, which shows that the
resin could not transfer the interface stress efficiently any more.
Freeze/thaw Cycles
Ren and Hu (2003) designed and conducted freeze/thaw cycles test to investigate the bonding behavior of FRPconcrete interface.The standard conctete cubes (100 mm x 100 mm x 100mm) were used as specimens, the
bonding length was 100 mm, and the width of FRP sheets was 50mm. The specimen parameters included the
types of FRP sheet and bonding material, the unmber of freeze/thaw cycles, the sequence of pasting FRP sheet.
The test contents were the shear bonding strength, the bonding slippage of FRP-concrete interface. The test
results showed that no matter whether freeze/thaw cycles went through or not, the bonding breakage all appeared
the shear breakage of concrete. At the same time no matter when pasting FRP sheet before freeze/thaw cycles or
after freeze/thaw cycles, the bonding strength of FRP-concrete interface decreases to a great degree.
Other researchers also studied the effects of freeze/thaw cycles on the bonding behavior by normal tensile
bonding strength test and shear bonding strength test. Test variables were cycling times of freeze/thaw cycles,
fiber sheet type and resin type. The effect rules and mechanisms of freeze/thaw cycles on the FRP-concrete
bonding interface were studied through analyzing the changes of failure modes, normal tensile bonding strength
values, shear bonding strength values and so on. Test results showed that freeze/thaw cycles have adverse effects
on bonding interface. It is important to select suitable fiber sheet type and resin type for the resistant capacity of
FRP system to severe environments.
CONCLUSIONS
This paper mainly discusses and summarizes the reported results on the durability of bonding performance of
FRP-concrete interface externally bonded with FRP composite sheet under the outside harsh environmental
condition. The following conclusions can be drawn:
(1) The outside harsh environmental condition affects the durability of the bonding strength of FRP-concrete
interface greatly. Among these factors, the influence of factors relating to water is the most. When studying
the durability, the factors relating to water should be considered primarily, such as high temperature and
humidity, chemical corrosion, freeze/thaw cycles, and tidal action of seawater and so on.
(2) The influence effects and degrees of different factors are different. At the same time, The influences of
different factors on the durability are not independent. Ordinarily the factors influence the durability in
common. In construction appropriate FRP sheet and binding materials should be selected according to the
outside environmental condition.
(3) The bonding breakage of FRP-concrete interface may appear in the superficial layer of concrete, the FRPconcrete interface, the binding material layer or between the layers of FRP sheets. The reason that the
breakage apppears in different position depends on many factors such as pasting quality, concrete strength,
binding material property, the surface treatment of concrete, FRP sheet quality etc. Under the situation of
good pasting, the bonding breakage modes of FRP-concrete interface can be summarized as two types, one is
the slippage in the superficial layer of concrete, the other is the slippage of FRP-concrete interface. In the
latter mode the concrete grains are pasted on the FRP sheet surface.
(4) Furthermore the stress state also influences the bonding performance under different stress states, the
breakage modes of FRP-concrete interface are different.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE WORK
This paper is part of an ongoing durability research program on FRP-concrete interface externally bonded with
FRP composite sheet. In fact the existing studies at present are still limited to some extent, so there are many
problems expected to be studied in this field.

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At present the durability study methods are mainly limited to the artificial ageing experiment, the theoretical
analysis and numerical simulation are still absent. The available theoretical model should be built to investigate
the reason of mechanical property change and the failure mechanism in deep. In the last the durability design
theory of strengthening concrete structure with FRP should be built.
Comparing with the studies on intensity and mechanics function etc of the FRP composites and the strengthened
structures, the studies on the durability are limited. At the same time the agreed standards of durability
experimental methods and environmental simulation condition have not be built internationally yet. The agreed
standards should be built as soon as possible, and in future the durability studies should be increased.
The major limitation of existing experimental studies are the absence of stress influence during environmental
ageing and only considering single environmental condition. Coupling effects of sustained load and various
environmental conditions should be included in future studies in order to simulate real life conditions.
The existing studies are idealized. The bonding of FRP-concrete interface is supposed perfect and the thickness
of the bonding glue is supposed uniform.In fact due to the limitation of construction condition and technology
the bonding glue between FRP and concrete component is nonuniform and discontinuous. In the future work this
situation should be considered while studying the bonding durability.
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