Environmental Degradation of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Fasteners in Wood
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 25, Issue 5
Abstract
This paper examines the durability of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) nails in treated wood. The FRP nails were exposed to four conditions: (1) accelerated weathering, consisting of exposure to ultraviolet light and condensation; (2) 100% relative humidity (RH); (3) being driven into untreated wood and exposed to 100% RH; and (4) being driven into wood treated with alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ) and exposed to 100% RH. Changes in the physical, mechanical, and chemical properties were examined with weight loss, dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA), and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR), respectively. Although fasteners exhibited changes after exposure to treated wood, the changes were not statistically different than the changes that occurred in untreated wood or in the humid environment. Under these three conditions, the fasteners gained 2–3% of their starting mass, and the storage modulus also increased by 20% after exposure. The results suggest that moisture is more important than the wood chemistry or preservative chemistry in determining the durability of FRP fasteners in wood.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge funding from the Federal Highway Administration National Historic Covered Bridge Research Program.
References
American Wood Protection Association (AWPA). (2007). “Use category system.”, Granbury, TX.
ASTM. (2006). “Standard practice for operating fluorescent light apparatus for UV exposure of nonmetallic materials.” ASTM G154, West Conshohocken, PA.
Baker, A. J. (1992). “Corrosion of nails in CCA- and ACA-treated wood in two environments.” For. Prod. J., 42(9), 39–41.
Burkholder, M. (2004). “CCA, NFBA, and the post-frame building industry.” Frame Build. News, 16(5), 6–12.
International Code Council (ICC). (2003). International building code, Delmar Cengage Learning, Florence, KY.
Kear, G., Wu, H.-Z., and Jones, M. S. (2009). “Weight loss studies of fastener materials corrosion in contact with timbers treated with copper azole and alkaline copper quaternary compounds.” Corros. Sci., 51(2), 252–262.
Lebow, S. (2004). “Alternatives to chromated copper arsenate for residential construction.”, USDA, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI.
MATLAB 14 [Computer software]. MathWorks, Natick, MA.
“Preservative treated wood.” (2008). Simpson Strong-Tie Technical Bulletin, Pleasanton, CA.
Vargas-Aguilera, C. A. (2007). “Extrema. Matlab central file exchange.” MathWorks, Inc. 〈http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/12275〉.
Zelinka, S. L. (2007). “Uncertainties in corrosion rate measurements of fasteners exposed to treated wood at 100% relative humidity.” J. Test. Eval., 35(1), 106–109.
Zelinka, S. L., Ortiz-Candelaria, L., Stone, D. S., and Rammer, D. R. (2009). “Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as a tool for measuring corrosion of polymer-coated fasteners used in treated wood.” For. Prod. J., 59(1–2), 77–82.
Zelinka, S. L., and Rammer, D. R. (2009). “Corrosion rates of fasteners in treated wood exposed to 100% relative humidity.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 21(12), 758–763.
Zelinka, S. L., and Rammer, D. R. (2012). “Modeling the effect of nail corrosion on the lateral strength of joints.” For. Prod. J., 62(3), 160–166.
Zelinka, S. L., Sichel, R. J., and Stone, D. S. (2010). “Exposure testing of fasteners in preservative treated wood: Gravimetric corrosion rates and corrosion product analyses.” Corros. Sci., 52(12), 3943–3948.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 30, 2012
Accepted: Jun 14, 2012
Published online: Dec 21, 2012
Published in print: May 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.