POLYMER IMPREGNATED TEXTILE REINFORCEMENT CURED IN CONCRETE BY MEANS OF ELECTRIC HEATING

Conventional polymer impregnated textile reinforcements possess only limited drapability due to the completed curing of the polymer impregnation. This limits the design flexibility of textile reinforced concrete (TRC) and complicated the integration of TRC into digital production processes (e.g. additive manufacturing). To enable flexible textile reinforcements with high mechanical performance, the authors investigate so called prepregs (uncured polymer impregnated textiles). These prepregs are highly drapeable and are cured after placement within the concrete matrix. The prepreg curing is facilitated by direct electric heating of the carbon textile. In this initial study, the feasibility of this approach is demonstrated and evaluated.