Construction sector is one of the largest markets for fibre reinforced polymers (FRPs) globally. FRP composites are used in a wide range of applications in construction ranging from rehabilitation of existing structures to the full-scale use for new projects because of the benefits they provide over conventional building materials. Such advantages include but not limited to lightness, high mechanical performance and possibility of production in any shape, ease of installation and lesser requirement for supporting structure, controlled anisotropy, high specific strength and specific stiffness. All these multifarious features of FRPs are knocking the doors for new avenues of myriad applications in the Construction Industry, but unfortunately polymeric composites are susceptible to heat and moisture when operating in changing environmental conditions dispelling the biggest myth of them being invincible. The heat response of FRPs is also a major issue of importance in dictating the fate of FRPs future acceptability and applicability. This paper thus attempts to review the specific areas of the current utilization trend of FRPs in the Construction Industry and draw their advantages to support the future applications in a variety of construction processes. It is also being attempted to juxtapose the applicability and the durability concerns of FRPs in a single literature for assessing the versatility and scope of FRPs, by shedding light on the past available studies on the related matter.

The specific properties of fibre reinforced polymers give them a lot of advantages over traditional materials but the long life of polymeric composites poses serious environmental threats raising sustainability concerns. The other issue of importance concerning the innovators and environmentalists in the mass usage of this material is its health impacts on human beings. This paper thus attempts to highlight and surface out the issues related to fibre reinforced polymers’ sustainability and their health impacts on human beings, by reviewing past studies on the subject, to examine critically the extensive body of published data, prior observations and ideas on the subject in order to identify and analyse those features that are intrinsic and unique to fibre reinforced polymers. This would thus serve as a conceptual model for future research on fibre reinforced polymer composites sustainability and health concerns.

This article focuses on the experimental investigation carried out on the characteristics of ferrocement thin composite elements using various reinforcement meshes in flexure. The parameters of this study include: the effect of the various kinds of reinforcement meshes (stainless steel meshes and E-fiberglass meshes); number of mesh layers and various mesh diameters with opening size as well as various kinds of mortar materials as matrix (cement grout mortar and polymer— cement grout mortar) on the first crack load; bending stiffness; ultimate flexural load; load—deflection behavior; crack characteristics; energy absorption capacity; and ductility index. The results clarify that the use of stainless steel meshes as reinforcement system in the ferrocement thin composite elements contributes significantly to the improvement of bending characteristics in terms of first crack load, bending stiffness, ultimate flexural load, energy absorption to failure, and numerous fine and well-distributed cracks with a smaller width than while using fiberglass meshes. The method outlined by ACI Building Code is used to compute ultimate moment capacities. The results obtained using this method are compared with the experimental results.