Toughening the Macro Defect Free (MDF) cements

Abstract

High performance polymer based-cements (i.e. cements having a water to cement ratio, w/a, close to 0.1) almost totally free of defect, have been developed in recent years claiming a great interest for their very high tensile strength compared with traditional cements. These materials can be produced utilizing very simple unit operations and further formed in complex shapes with high surface quality. Indeed these materials have the disadvantage of being too much brittle and for this main reason they are rarely utilized in practice. Toughening the Macro Defect Free Cements (MDF) implies the strict control of the structure. The structure is governed by the process-induced paste modifications. In this paper we show that toughening can be achieved with elastomeric particles having well defined size distribution and physico-chemical characteristics in relation with both the binder polymer and the cement chemistry. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.