Strength deterioration of architectural fabrics under single and combined artificial weathering impacts

Nowadays, the application of coated fabrics as an architectural membrane material for lightweight structures is growing dramatically. Despite the fact that a lot of research has been carried out on the properties of these fabrics, yet broad assumptions are made in both material testing and modelling of the material behaviour. Under weathering, the degradation of these materials within the coating and its propagation to the fibres contributes to the loss of functional performance, mainly in terms of mechanical properties such as the tensile strength. The durability of the fabrics is also evaluated by the loss in mechanical performance. Till now, verified numbers for factors considering this strength reduction in the framework of either a national or an international standard are missing. This thesis describes investigations into the uniaxial tensile strength deterioration of two common architectural coated woven fabrics, PET-PVC and glass-PTFE, exposed to various artificial weathering factors, alone or in combination. This survey is structured based on the combination of a review and original exploratory experimental research. The overview is required to provide the fundamental declaration of each layer of architectural fabrics' chemical compositions and their mechanisms of degradation under different weathering impacts. The experimental investigation includes the evaluation of artificial ageing influences, first on PET reinforced PVC coated fabrics, and second on glass reinforced PTFE coated fabrics. The additional contribution of this thesis is the set of weathering-induced ageing modification factors derived from the artificial weathering test results in order to broaden the database in the frame of European design standardization.