Effects of exposure to elevated temperatures and subsequent immersion in water or alkaline solution on the mechanical properties of pultruded BFRP plates

In this article, a pultruded unidirectional basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) plate was thermally aged at 135 C and 300 C for 4 h, and subsequently immersed in distilled water or strong alkaline solution (simulating concrete pore water, pH = 12.6-13) for 3 months. The variation of the tensile and interlaminar shear (ILSS) properties of the BFRP plates was studied. Thermal aging exhibited a slight effect on both the longitudinal tensile properties and the interlaminar shear strength, although thermal decomposition of the resin matrix started at 300 C and brought in a high void content (4.8%). FTIR and DMTA results indicate that thermal aging lead to postcuring and oxidation of the resin matrix, leading to an increase of the glass transition temperatures. Thermal aging accelerated the degradation of the BFRP plates in distilled water or alkaline solution at 20, 40 and 60 C. In the studied hash immersion conditions of 60 C alkaline solution for 3 months, the unaged, 135 C aged and 300 C aged BFRP samples showed reduction in the tensile strength by 43.2%, 62.3% and 74.1%, respectively. The higher the thermal aging and immersion temperatures, the more deterioration of the mechanical properties occurred. Alkaline solution immersion showed more adverse effects compared to the distilled water. The detrimental effects of the thermal aging were attributed to the formation of voids and cracks through which water or alkaline solution tended to easily penetrate into the BFRPs. The degradation of the resin due to thermal aging and immersion was analyzed with dynamic mechanical thermal analysis and scanning electron microscopy analysis. The long term variation of the tensile strength of BFRPs was evaluated based on the Arrhenius equation.