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

小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将侧重于开发具有广泛应用的上级基础设施材料。 纤维增强聚合物（FRP）钢筋材料与未涂覆的钢筋相比具有显著的性能优势。 这些优点包括重量减轻七倍，消除腐蚀，减少30%的混凝土用量（相当于减少150亿吨二氧化碳排放量），以及与传统钢筋相比，较小直径的拉伸强度。 玻璃钢钢筋正在小批量生产，但由于其高成本，市场接受度有限。 与目前最先进的FRP相比，待开发的材料和工艺将实现价格平价，并使生产速度大幅提高。这些改进将打开18亿美元的FRP市场，并在更广泛的600亿美元的全球钢筋市场中创造机会。 此外，还将探索全球玄武岩矿山废料场，并在可能的情况下将其用作纤维生产的原材料。 如果成功，这将消除大量废物流，并导致更好的环境管理。这项工作的重点将是开发生产这种新钢筋所需的工艺。 热固性树脂和玄武岩纤维将被用作这种复合材料中的主要增强材料。 在过去的20年里，FRP钢筋已经发展成为一种可行的产品，累计收入达12亿美元。 然而，目前没有FRP钢筋产品以与未涂覆的钢筋相同的价格提供。 为了实现价格平价，这项工作将集中在开发这种材料的新型高速制造工艺上。 玄武岩纤维是一种新兴材料，有可能在各种应用中取代碳纤维。 此外，不常用于纸浆模塑的热固性树脂可以提供典型FRP钢筋树脂无法实现的改进的性能特征。 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.