SBIR Phase I: Development of High Speed Process Technology for the Manufacturing of Cost Effective Polymer Rebar

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将专注于开发具有广泛应用的优质基础设施材料。与未涂覆的钢筋相比，纤维增强聚合物(FRP)钢筋材料具有显著的性能优势。这些优势包括重量减轻了七分之一，消除了腐蚀，混凝土使用量减少了30%(相当于减少了150亿吨二氧化碳排放)，以及与传统钢筋相比，在较小直径下的同等抗拉强度。玻璃钢钢筋正在小批量生产，但由于成本较高，市场接受度有限。与目前最先进的玻璃钢相比，将要开发的材料和工艺将使价格持平，并使生产速度显著提高。综合起来，这些改进将打开18亿美元的玻璃钢市场，并在更广泛的600亿美元的全球螺纹钢市场创造机会。此外，还将勘探全球玄武岩矿山废弃场，并在可能的情况下将其用作纤维生产的原材料。如果成功，这将消除大量的废物，并带来更好的环境管理。这项工作将集中在开发生产这种新螺纹钢所需的工艺。热固性树脂和玄武岩纤维将用作该复合材料的主要增强材料。在过去的20年里，FRP钢筋已经发展成为一种可行的产品，累计收入12亿美元。然而，目前还没有FRP钢筋产品以与未涂层钢筋平价的价格提供。为了达到价格平价，这一努力将集中在为这种材料开发一种新的高速制造工艺。玄武岩纤维是一种新兴的材料，有可能在各种应用中取代碳纤维。此外，拉挤中不常用的热固性树脂可以提供典型的玻璃钢螺纹钢树脂无法实现的性能特性。该项目的完成将进一步了解该系统中的材料相互作用，这将为其他复合材料技术创造潜力。

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on the development of a superior infrastructure material with wide-reaching applications. Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) rebar materials offer significant performance advantages as compared to uncoated steel rebar. These advantages include a sevenfold weight reduction, the elimination of corrosion, a 30% reduction in concrete usage (which translates to a 15 billion ton reduction in CO2 emissions), and equivalent tensile strength at smaller diameters versus traditional steel rebar. FRP rebar is being produced in small quantities, but has limited market acceptance due to its high cost. The material and process to be developed will allow price parity and enable dramatic improvements in production speeds as compared to the current FRP state-of-the-art. When combined, these improvements will open the FRP market of $1.8 billion and create opportunities in the broader $60 billion global market for rebar. Additionally, global basalt mine waste dumps will be explored and, if possible, utilized as a raw material for fiber production. If successful, this would eliminate a significant waste stream and lead to better environmental stewardship. This effort will focus on developing the process required to produce this new rebar. A thermoset resin and basalt fiber will be used as the primary reinforcements within this composite. Over the past 20 years, FRP rebar has been developed into a viable product, representing $1.2 billion in cumulative revenue. However, no FRP rebar product is currently offered at price parity with uncoated steel rebar. In order to reach price parity, this effort will focus on development of a novel high-speed manufacturing process for this material. Basalt fiber is an emerging material that has potential to replace carbon fiber in a variety of applications. Additionally, thermoset resins not commonly used in pultrusion can offer improved performance characteristics that cannot be achieved with typical FRP rebar resins. Completion of this project will create further understanding of material interactions in this system, which will create the potential for additional composite technologies.