| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2024 ASC Technical Conference, US-Japan Joint Symposium, D30 Meeting
|
| Symposium
|
2024 ASC Technical Conference, US-Japan Joint Symposium, D30 Meeting
|
| Presentation Title |
Design of a Pultrusion System for Hemp-Based Rebar |
| Author(s) |
Sharmad Joshi, Daniel Walczyk, Alexandros Tsamis, Daniel Martin Cohen |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Sharmad Joshi |
| Abstract Scope |
Hemp's eco-friendly attributes and versatility make it popular in engineering, especially for durable, cost-effective products like Hempcrete. This study presents a pultrusion manufacturing system for fabricating yet another construction material: a hemp-reinforced thermoplastic (PP) rebar for use in reinforced concrete. Pultrusion is a continuous manufacturing process used to manufacture thermoset and thermoplastic composites with constant cross sections. The critical components of the prototype system under development are a dielectric preheater, a pultrusion die, and a variable speed pulling system. The first component, i.e. dielectric preheating, serves as a quick and efficient method to raise the rebar preform to just below the thermoplastic’s melting temperature. Rebar commingled preforms were tested in a commercial pultrusion preheater designed for a thermoset system to confirm the concept's validity. Subsequently, dielectric spectroscopy was employed to obtain the preforms' dielectric properties and demonstrate the suitability of dielectric heating. The second component is the converging pultrusion die wherein the preform matrix is fully melted and the rebar is consolidated under pressure. Coupled thermal-fluid FEA simulations aided in the construction of the die. The third component is a winch that pulls the preform at different speeds through the die and the outcoming rebar is characterized through microscopy and mechanical testing. The properties of compression molded rebar specimens are used for comparison. This study proposes a comprehensive rebar manufacturing system feasible for on-site installation. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Definite: Post-meeting proceedings |