Low Cost, Large Diameter Fiber Reinforced Polymer (Composite) Rebar

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Rebar has been available for over 30 years, and has been used in over 500 structures across North America. FRP rebar has always demanded a higher price point and this has limited its ability to gain a larger market share. Neuvokas has developed a process to produce small diameter, 3/8 inch, FRP rebar at process speeds that are 23X faster than current SOA. This has created a reduction in cost by 40% enabling larger market share. Neuvokas can adapt this process to produce large diameter rebar products required for structural concrete applications such as runways and heavy highway. This can be done at a lower cost than steel rebar. The USAF will benefit from this technology in multiple ways. Low-cost, large-diameter FRP rebar, a direct replacement to steel rebar, will reduce the cost to purchase, transport, install, use, and decommission concrete infrastructure. When utilizing #3 FRP high strength rebar, such as Neuvokas Gatorbar, to replace #4 steel rebar in certain concrete applications transportation costs can be reduced by 7X. This Phase I project will allow Neuvokas to complete the detailed study to find these first customers within the USAF ensuring these cost savings become a reality.