Highly radioresistant aramid fiber as a concrete-reinforcing material. Development of reinforced compound materials

Nuclear installations, such as nuclear fusion reactor always receive strong influence from magnetic field. There, stray current is induced by the changes in magnetic fields among iron rods of the construction, resulting that the plasma control magnetic field might be disturbed. As the countermeasures for these troubles, iron rods mixed with non-magnetic Mn-steel have been used in JAERI, but it is insufficient to completely prevent such electromagnetic damages. Thus, aramid fiber reinforced plastics (ArFRP) was paid an attention as a concrete-reinforcing material. JAERI has been attempting to develop a radioresistant ArFRP jointly with Mitsui Construction Co., Ltd. and a highly efficient producing process of ArFRP was developed. The product had superior properties in respects of radioresistancy, heat-resistancy and durability. The properties of newly developed ArFRP rods were compared with those of the conventional ArFRP and iron rods. (M.N.)