ABSTRACT
The increasing popularity of fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) as a means of strengthening and seismic retrofitting of existing structures derives from numerous attractive features of these materials, such as: high specific strength (i.e. strength to weight ratio), corrosion resistance, ease and speed of application and minimal change of cross section dimensions. Despite these well-established advantages over other methods, the FRP strengthening technique entails a few drawbacks, which are mainly attributed to the organic resins used to bind and impregnate the fibers. The replacement of organic binders with inorganic ones, e.g. cement-based polymer-modified mortars, would seem as the logical course of action, targeting at the alleviation of all resin-related problems. Nevertheless, the substitution of FRP with fiber-reinforced mortars would be inhibited by the relatively poor bond conditions in the resulting cementitious composite as, due to the granularity of the mortar, penetration and impregnation of fiber sheets is very difficult to achieve. Enhanced fiber-matrix interactions could be achieved when continuous fiber sheets are replaced by textiles, resulting in a new generation of materials, which may be called Textile-Reinforced Mortars (TRM), and may be thought of as an alternative to FRP in the field of strengthening and seismic retrofitting.
