A novel ultra-high modulus carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) prestressing tendon made from coal tar pitch-based carbon fibres was characterized in terms of high temperature tensile strength (up to 570 °C) with a series of transient thermal and steady state temperature tensile tests. Digital image correlation was used to capture the high temperature strain development during thermal and mechanical loading. Complementary thermogravimetric (TGA) and dynamic mechanical thermal (DMTA) experiments were performed on the tendons to elucidate their high temperature thermal and mechanical behaviour. The novel CFRP tendons investigated in the present study showed an ambient temperature design tensile strength of 1400 MPa. Their failure temperature at a sustained prestress level of 50% of the design tensile strength was 409 °C, which is higher than the failure temperature of most fibre reinforced polymer rebars used in civil engineering applications at similar utilisation levels. This high-temperature tensile strength shows that there is potential to use the novel high modulus CFRP tendons in CFRP pretensioned concrete elements for building applications that fulfill the fire resistance criteria typically applied within the construction industry.

The bond behaviour of novel, sand-coated ultra-high modulus (UHM) carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRP) tendons to high performance concrete (HPC) was studied by a combined numerical and experimental approach. A series of pull-out tests revealed that the failure type can vary between sudden and continuous pull-out depending on the chosen sand coating grain size. Measuring the same shear stress vs. tendon draw-in (τ-δ) curves in the same test set-up, for sand coated CFRP tendons with a longitudinal stiffness of 137 and 509 GPa, respectively, indicated that the absolute bond strength in both cases was not influenced by the tendon’s stiffness. However, the τ-δ curves significantly differed in terms of the draw-in rate, showing higher draw-in rate for the UHM CFRP tendon. With the aid of X-ray computed tomography (CT), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and visual analysis methods, the bond failure interface was located between the CFRP tendon and the surrounding sand-epoxy layer. For further investigation, a simplified finite element analysis (FEA) of the tendon pull-out was performed using a cohesive surface interaction model and the software Abaqus 6.14. A parametric study, varying the tendon-related material properties, revealed the tendon’s longitudinal stiffness to be the only contributor to the difference in the τ-δ curves found in the experiments, thus to the shear stress transfer behaviour between the CFRP tendon and the concrete. In conclusion, the excellent bond of the sand-coated UHM CFRP tendons to HPC as well as the deeper insight in the bond failure mechanism encourages the application of UHM CFRP tendons for prestressing applications.

The combination of low clinker high-performance concrete (LCHPC) and ultra-high modulus (UHM) carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) tendons was recently proposed for prestressed structural elements. The 70% reduction in cement content resulting in limited creep and shrinkage of the LCHPC in comparison to a conventional high-performance concrete (HPC) and the very high UHM-CFRP tendon stiffness (> 509 GPa) were expected to impact the mechanical behaviour of such structures. This study focuses on the behaviour of 3 m-long beam specimens during prestressing, concrete hardening and in 4 point-bending experiments. Fibre optic sensors were implemented inside the CFRP tendons to measure strain during those stages and a digital image correlation system was employed to monitor the 4-point-bending tests. After 28 days, the LCHPC recipe, despite a 70% cement reduction and much smaller environmental footprint, did not show measurable differences in the prestress loss behaviour in comparison to a conventional HPC. The UHM-CFRP prestressing tendons, because of their stiffness, showed both higher prestress losses of around 40% and on average a nearly doubled prestress transfer length. However, they increased the beam`s maximum load-bearing capacity by 21% and showed 47% less deflection at failure in comparison to beams prestressed with the standard modulus (UTS)-CFRP tendons.