Workability and Strength Properties of MMA-Modified Up Polymer Concrete

Abstract

In this study, the methyl methacrylate (MMA)-modified unsaturated polyester (UP) polymer concrete is developed by adding the MMA monomer to the UP resin to improve the early-age strength and the workability of the UP polymer concrete. Then the fundamental properties of the polymer concrete such as workability and strength are investigated. In the study of workability, total 72 classes of MMA-modified UP polymer concretes are produced with the binder contents of 8.0, 8.5, 9.0%, in which the proportions between the UP resin to the MMA monomer are 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, 50:50, and filler to binder ratios by weight are 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0. Slump tests for these 72 batches are conducted. Also, in order to test the strength properties according to the curing time, the MMA-modified UP polymer concrete is produced with the same ratios of binders, and then the compressive and flexural strengths are tested at the curing times of 3, 6, 12, 24 and 72 hours. Experimental results show that the workability is remarkably improved as the MMA contents increase, and the filler-binder ratio is turned out to be an important factor for the workability. Slump prediction equation is derived by the regression analysis based on the MMA contents and the filler-binder ratios. When the MMA contents increase in the range of 20-40%, the early-age strengths are greater than those of UP polymer concrete, but the strengths rather show a tendency of decrease when the MMA content is 50%. Furthermore, the compressive and the flexural strengths of MMA-modified UP polymer concrete tend to increase at low temperatures (0 and -15 °C) as the MMA contents increase, but these hardly increase when the MMA content is over 40%.