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CW Tech Days: Emerging Materials and Technologies for Infrastructure and Construction
During a recent Composites World webinar sponsored by Composites One, experts discussed the composite materials, processes, and applications that are ripe for use in the infrastructure and construction markets. The webinar highlighted emerging opportunities for composites to advance the infrastructure and construction markets, including in the areas of FRP rebar, bridge building, bridge repair, rail structures, marine structures, and composites design for commercial construction.
With the infrastructure bill passed, the U.S. will see increased and continued investment and activity in the construction and rehabilitation of new and aging infrastructure. Composite products and technology solutions are expected to play a significant role in supporting this federal initiative. Composites will prove useful for a variety of industry applications in building and construction thanks to their innovation and sustainability benefits.
Emerging composites topics covered in the webinar
The webinar discussed the focus of industry experts in exploring how wider adoption of composites in Infrastructure and Construction can support critical projects like bridge building and rehabilitation and repair of aging infrastructure. Using composites in these applications offers significantly improved performance with longer life spans, lower life cycle costs, and reduced maintenance requirements and costs, to name a few.
The benefits and possibilities of common composites materials, such as carbon fiber and fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP), create opportunities for innovative infrastructure applications that offer longevity, sustainability, and reliability. FRP is being adopted to support increasing populations and the associated demand for transportation infrastructure. It is used in pedestrian and vehicle bridges, platforms, and sidewalks, for its design flexibility, lightweight, corrosion resistance, durability, and ease of installation that help meet this demand.
FRP is also used as an innovative and sustainable solution for other infrastructure repair applications, such as pipelines in oil and gas, as well as submerged pules, seawalls, and bulkheads. Meanwhile, carbon fiber is proving a viable alternative to metal as a reinforcement for concrete construction. It is a time, resource, and cost-efficient alternative solution for bridges in need of retrofit or repair.
The Composites World webinar also addresses the benefits of composites in industries and applications for environmental and industrial factors like rising sea levels, 5G connectivity, power transmission lines, and energy efficiency. The industry continues to evolve in its broadening uses of composite materials and composites manufacturing processes. The infrastructure bill underscores the importance and possibilities for the composites industry to play a major role in buildings, bridges, piers, seawalls, and other infrastructure.
Composites One is here to provide customers in the infrastructure and construction segments the technical sales and support they need to meet building challenges, as well as evolving industry regulations and specifications.
Learn more about infrastructure composite material solutions from Composites One.