Investigation of mechanical and physical properties of polymer modified cement based coating materials

Slab surfaces are extremely exposed to environmental effects. Therefore these surfaces need coating materials to improve their durability against various physical, mechanical and chemical effects. Durability is today's most important concept and this fact increases te importance of coating materials. Performance of the coatings changes according to the chemical materials they contain. Polymers are one of these chemical materials. Today, as well as there are so many kinds of coating materials, polymers become prominent by means of their superiority. Polymers used in coating materials are found in liquid and powder forms. In this study, two different types of aggregates and three different kinds of polymers are used to produce coating materials. Polymer modified cement mortars are compared with each other and with the reference mortar (contain no polymers) in terms of physical and mechanical properties. For this purpose, the materials used were white Portland cement and aluminated cement, calcite aggregate with 0,2 mm maximum grain size and siliceous sand with 2 mm maximum grain size, plasticizer, antifoaming agent, water soluble cellulose ether and zinc sterate. Besides, three different polymers were used; powder, liquid and acrylic. In experimental studies; 6 different series were produced with calcite aggregate which contain polymers in the ratio of 2,5% and 5% for each one. Along with these 6 series, reference specimens were produced. After obtaining the test results, 3 more polymer modified series and reference specimens were produced with siliceous sand by chosing one polymer ratio among 2,5% and 5% for each polymer type according to the performance. The investigated parameters of the mixtures were flow, shrinkage, bending and compressive strength, abrasion, water absorption by weight and volume, permeability and freeze-thaw. To sum up, it is found that different features on demand can be obtained by using different types of polymers at different ratios. In terms of mechanical properties, % 2,5 polymer ratio; for physical properties, % 5 polymer ratio is convenient. Despite usage of sand instead of calcite as aggregate generally provided improvements in physical and mechanical properties; however in some series, negative affects were observed.