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Research Progress on Polymer and Admixture Modified Concrete Composites in Civil Engineering

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Composites and Nanocomposites".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 915

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Water Conservancy and Transportation, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
Interests: polymer gels; geopolymer composite; cementitious composite; fiber reinforced concrete; high performance concrete; mechanical property; durability; fracture property
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the development of concrete technology, traditional concrete has revealed a series of disadvantages in mechanical properties and durability. Various polymers can produce modified concrete to fabricate a popular construction material due to its excellent properties compared to traditional concrete. Besides, more and more researchers have used different admixtures to improve the properties of traditional concrete, such as fibers, nano-materials, mineral admixtures, and chemical admixtures. With polymers and admixtures, the workability, mechanical properties, fracture toughness, impact resistance, and durability of traditional concrete can be greatly improved. The specific areas of the Special Issue include (but are not limited to) preparation technologies, mixture design methods, experiment techniques, numerical modeling, performance and environmental evaluation, hydration mechanism, workability, microstructure, mechanical properties, durability, dynamic properties, fracture properties, structural behaviors, and commercialization concerning all types of polymer and admixture modified concrete composites.

Prof. Dr. Peng Zhang
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • polymer concrete
  • admixture modified concrete
  • polymer mortar
  • mechanical property
  • durability
  • numerical modeling
  • microstructure
  • physical property
  • structural behavior
  • engineering application

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 2133 KiB  
Article
Prediction of Rheological Properties of PVA Fiber and Nano-SiO2-Reinforced Geopolymer Mortar Based on Back Propagation Neural Network Model Optimized by Genetic Algorithm
by Guo Zhang, Peng Zhang, Juan Wang and Shaowei Hu
Polymers 2025, 17(8), 1046; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17081046 - 12 Apr 2025
Viewed by 220
Abstract
The rheological properties of mortar are of vital importance to ensure the quality and durability of engineering structures, improving construction efficiency and adapting to different construction environments. This research focused on examining the rheological properties of geopolymer mortar (GM) with the incorporation of [...] Read more.
The rheological properties of mortar are of vital importance to ensure the quality and durability of engineering structures, improving construction efficiency and adapting to different construction environments. This research focused on examining the rheological properties of geopolymer mortar (GM) with the incorporation of metakaolin (MK), nano-SiO2 (NS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers. The research focused on varying concentrations of PVA fiber ranging from 0 to 1.2% (interval of 0.2%) and NS ranging from 0 to 2.5% (interval of 0.5%). As the mix proportion optimization of GM is normally carried out experimentally, a significant amount of labor and material resources was consumed. Based on large amounts of authentic operation data, a prediction model of rheological properties for NS- and PVA-fiber-reinforced GM was developed using a back propagation (BP) neural network. Subsequently, the parameters were refined using a genetic algorithm (GA) to predict the rheological properties of GM reinforced with different dosages of NS and PVA fiber. Three rheological parameters, including static yield stress, plastic viscosity and dynamic yield stress, were used to evaluate the rheological properties of GM. Moreover, parameters of Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) were applied to assess the capability of the algorithms. When the GA–BP neural network was used, compared with the BP neural network, the coefficient of determination (R2) of the static yield stress, plastic viscosity, and dynamic yield stress increased by 4.40%, 2.11% and 15.28%, respectively, and the GA–BP neural network provided a superior fitting effect, higher prediction accuracy and faster convergence. Based on the outputs of the developed model, the GA–BP neural network can be adopted as a precise method to forecast the rheological properties of GM reinforced with NS and PVA fibers. Full article
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30 pages, 10546 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Performance of Environmentally Friendly Micro-Surfacing for Degradable Automobile Exhaust Gas
by Tengteng Guo, Yuanzhao Chen, Chenze Fang, Zhenxia Li, Da Li, Qingyun He and Haijun Chen
Polymers 2025, 17(6), 760; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17060760 - 13 Mar 2025
Viewed by 366
Abstract
To address the issue of air pollution caused by automobile exhaust in China, a titanium dioxide/graphite carbon nitride (TiO2/g-C3N4) composite photocatalyst capable of degrading automobile exhaust was prepared in this study. It was used as an additive [...] Read more.
To address the issue of air pollution caused by automobile exhaust in China, a titanium dioxide/graphite carbon nitride (TiO2/g-C3N4) composite photocatalyst capable of degrading automobile exhaust was prepared in this study. It was used as an additive to modify styrene–-butadiene latex (SBR) emulsified asphalt. The basic properties of modified emulsified asphalt before and after aging were analyzed, and the dosage range of TiO2/g-C3N4 (TCN) was determined. The environmentally friendly micro-surfacing of degradable automobile exhaust was prepared. Based on 1 h and 6 d wet wheel wear test, rutting deformation test, surface structure depth test, and pendulum friction coefficient test, the road performance of TCN environmentally friendly micro-surfacing mixture with different contents was analyzed and evaluated, and the effect of environmentally friendly degradation of automobile exhaust was studied by a self-made degradation device. The results show that when the mass ratio of TiO2 and melamine was 1:4, the TCN composite photocatalyst had strong photocatalytic activity. The crystal structure of TiO2 and g-C3N4 was not damaged during the synthesis process. The g-C3N4 inhibited the agglomeration of TiO2. The introduction of N-Ti bond changed the electronic structure of TiO2, narrowed the band gap and broadened the visible light response range. When the TCN content was in the range of 1~7%, the softening point of SBR- modified emulsified asphalt increased with the increase in TCN content, the penetration decreased, the ductility decreased gradually, and the storage stability increased gradually. The penetration ratio and ductility ratio of the composite-modified emulsified asphalt after aging increased with the increase in TCN content, and the increment of the softening point decreased. This shows that the TCN content is beneficial to the high-temperature performance and anti-aging performance of SBR-modified emulsified asphalt, and has an adverse effect on low temperature performance and storage stability. The addition of TCN can improve the wear resistance and rutting resistance of the micro-surfacing mixture, and has no effect on the water damage resistance and skid resistance. The environment-friendly micro-surfacing asphalt mixture had a significant degradation effect on NO, CO, and HC. With the increase in TCN content, the degradation efficiency of the three gases was on the rise. When the content was 5%, the degradation rates of NO, CO, and HC were 37.16%, 25.72%, and 20.44%, respectively, which are 2.34 times, 2.47, times and 2.30 times that of the 1% content, and the degradation effect was significantly improved. Full article
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