Review on Mechanical Performance of Fibre-Reinforced Plastics in Marine Environments

Fibre-reinforced plastics (FRPs) are increasingly popular in marine applications, such as boats, offshore wind-power installations, as well as oil and gas offshore systems thanks to their high stiffness, light weight, and damage resistance. This paper aims to examine the recent developments in the investigation of the effects of moisture uptake on the mechanical performance of FRP for maritime applications, to identify the gaps in the literature, and to suggest likely future research directions in this area. While the review is limited to recent studies—within the last two decades, it discusses in detail the current advances in the experimental investigations of moisture uptake on critical mechanical performance including tensile, flexural, shear and viscoelastic properties, thus covering the major quasi-static and dynamic regimes of FRPs subjected to seawater exposure.