Polymer-modified Concrete with Improved Flexural Toughness and Mechanism Analysis

By selecting different types of polymer mixing into concrete, the toughness of concrete is investigated, and results indicate polymer has obvious effect to improve the toughness of concrete. Microstructure of polymer-modified concrete were studied through environment scanning electron microscope and digital micro-hardness tester, results show that polymer acts as a flexible filler and reinforcement in concrete, and alters the microstructure at mortar and ITZ. By crack path prediction and energy consumption analysis, the crack path of polymer-modified concrete is more tortuous and consumes more energy than that of ordinary concrete.

Effects of Compaction Temperature on the Volumetric Properties and Compaction Energy Efforts of Polymer-Modified Asphalt Mixtures

In order to determine a proper compaction temperature that affects the workability and compactibility of the polymer-modified asphalt（PMA）, the effect of compaction temperature was examined on the volumetric properties and the compaction energy indices. Change in compaction temperature shows an important influence on the maximum specific gravity of mixture（G_（mm）） by internal volume change of PMA. The change in G_（mm） mainly affects the effective volume of the aggregate（V_（Eff））. Reduction in V_（Eff） from Zero shear viscosity（ZSV） to superpave temperature allows 0.1%-0.15% of the asphalt binder to occupy highly the external voids of aggregates. The volumetric properties for all compaction specimens meet superpave criteria, but the energy efforts were the lowest at ZSV temperature. Lower energy efforts at the ZSV temperature reflect easier compaction than those at excessively high temperature. Clearly, excessive compaction temperature may not be necessary to improve the compactibility and to reduce the compaction efforts.

Influence of Adding Compatibilizer to SBS Polymer-Modified Asphalt on Compatibility and Rheological Behavior

Adding compatibilizer to polymer-modified asphalt(PMA)is an effective method to improve compatibility and performance.However,only few studies have systematically focused on how compatibilizer can affect the performance of styrene-butadiene-styrene(SBS)polymer-modified asphalt(PMA).In this study,six compatibilizers with different compositions were used to prepare SBS PMA samples.Conventional performance,viscosity-temperature characteristics,viscoelastic behavior,creep properties,and morphology were investigated.The results show that adding compatibilizer to SBS PMA has a great effect on its performance.High aromatics content in compatibilizers can improve the high-temperature performance of SBS PMA,while a high saturates content can enhance the low-temperature performance.Additionally,high aromatics content in compatibilizer can increase the temperature sensitivity.While the aromatics content does improve the compatibility of SBS PMA to some extent,adding compatibilizer to SBS PMA has few effects on the microstructure.Judging from our test results,we can conclude that the optimum aromatics content for adding compatibilizer to SBS PMA ranges from 33.21%to 54.22%.

Influence of mineral fillers on the rheological response of polymer-modified bitumens and mastics

The rheological properties of the bituminous components （bitumen and bituminous mastic） within asphalt mixtures contribute significantly to the major distresses of flexible pavements （i.e. rutting, fatigue and low temperature cracking）. Asphalt mixtures are usually composed of mastic-coated aggregates rather than pure bitumen-coated aggre- gates. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of mineral fillers on the theological behaviour of several polymer-modified bitumens （PMBs） through laboratory mixing. A neat bitumen and two types of polymers （elastomeric and plastomeric） were used to produce PMBs, and two fillers with different minerals （limestone and basalt） were selected to obtain mastics. The dynamic shear rheometer （DSR） and bending beam rheometer （BBR） were used to characterize the theological properties of PMBs and mastics. In particular, multiple stress creep recovery （MSCR） tests were performed to evaluate the rutting potential at high temperatures, whereas BBR tests were carried out to investigate the low temperature behaviour of these materials. BBR results for unmodified mastics show that the increase of stiffness is similar regardless of the filler type, whereas results for polymer-modified mastics indicate that the degree of stiffening depends on the combi- nation of filler/polymer types. MSCR results show that adding filler leads to a reduced susceptibility of permanent deformation and an enhanced elastic response, depending on the combination of filler/polymer types. Overall results suggest that a physical-chemical interaction between the filler and bitumen occurs, and that the interaction level is highly dependent on the type of polymer modification.

Influence of accelerated curing on the compressive strength of polymer-modified concrete

In recent building practice,rapid construction is one of the principal requisites.Furthermore,in designing concrete structures,compressive strength is the most significant of all parameters.While 3-d and 7-d compressive strength reflects the strengths at early phases,the ultimate strength is paramount.An effort has been made in this study to develop mathematical models for predicting compressive strength of concrete incorporating ethylene vinyl acetate(EVA)at the later phases.Kolmogorov-Smirnov(KS)goodness-of-fit test was used to examine distribution of the data.The compressive strength of EVA-modified concrete was studied by incorporating various concentrations of EVA as an admixture and by testing at ages of 28,56,90,120,210,and 365 d.An accelerated compressive strength at 3.5 hours was considered as a reference strength on the basis of which all the specified strengths were predicted by means of linear regression fit.Based on the results of KS goodness-of-fit test,it was concluded that KS test statistics value(D)in each case was lower than the critical value 0.521 for a significance level of 0.05,which demonstrated that the data was normally distributed.Based on the results of compressive strength test,it was concluded that the strength of EVA-modified specimens increased at all ages and the optimum dosage of EVA was achieved at 16%concentration.Furthermore,it was concluded that predicted compressive strength values lies within a 6%difference from the actual strength values for all the mixes,which indicates the practicability of the regression equations.This research work may help in understanding the role of EVA as a viable material in polymer-based cement composites.

STUDY ON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MICROSTRU-CTURE AND PROPERTY OF MODIFIED BITUMEN

In this paper morphology of APP modified bitumen (APP MB) and SBS modified bitumen (SBS MB) was studied by scanning elecron microscopy (SEM) and the morphology property relationship of these two modified bitumen (MB) was discussed. The results indicate that the APP MB systems is in a homogeneous phase structure and the SBS MB system is in a heterogeneous phase structure. Improvement of bituminous physical properties by APP and SBS is closely related with the microstructure of APP and SBS MB.