Enhancing the Fresh and Hardened Properties of the Early Age Concrete Modified with Powder Polymers and Characterized Using Different Models

Abstract

Abstract This study focuses on the effect of three types of powder polymer (polycarboxylate superplasticizer) in term of setting time of cement, workability, density, and compressive strength of concrete until 28 days of curing. The percentage of the polymer ranged between 0 to 0.25 % (by dry weight of cement). Slump and compressive strength results of concrete modified with polymers were compared with the fresh and hardened properties of cement replacement with silica fume (SF) used in the literature. Based on the statistical analysis, the range of SF used in different research studies varied between 0 and 25 %. The initial water-to-cement ratio (w/c) was 0.60 and decreased gradually to 0.46 with an increase in the polymer contents. The compressive strength of concrete modified with only 0.25 % of polymers increased by 24 to 97 % based on the types of polymer, polymer content, w/c, and curing time. A nonlinear model (NLM) was used to model the compressive strength of concrete modified with three types of the polymer and SF; the compressive strength of modified concrete was modeled as a function of polymer content, w/c, and time of curing. Based on the NLM parameters, it was found that the polymers are more effective than SF in improving the workability and compressive strength of concrete.