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Polymers
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Study and Applications of Resins in Civil Engineering
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Study and Applications of Resins in Civil Engineering

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2025 | Viewed by 2653

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Hongliang Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory for Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Interests: resin; pavement materials; eco-friendly asphalt pavements; bridge deck pavements
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Resins, as a category of polymer compounds including epoxy resins, polyester resins, phenolic resins, polyurethanes, and acrylic resins, etc., are widely used in civil engineering, such as pavements, bridges, tunnels, and construction buildings, due to their outstanding mechanical properties and moldability. However, the resins used in engineering only represent a fraction of the resin categories, and many other types of resins have the potential to be applied in engineering. Additionally, the wider application of conventional resins in civil engineering is hindered by limitations such as inadequate toughness, excessive shrinkage during curing, and poor aging resistance. Therefore, exploring the potential applications of new resins in civil engineering and improving resin performance through various modification techniques constitutes a significant research area. This field still requires extensive research and exploration to propel technological advancements in civil engineering.

The main motivation of this Special Issue is to deliver new research perspectives and report recent research findings. The scope of our journal includes, but is not limited to, the following fields:

  • Applications of resins in civil engineering;
  • Modification of resins;
  • Properties of materials modified with resins.

Prof. Dr. Hongliang Zhang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • applications of resins in civil engineering
  • modification of resins
  • properties of materials modified with resins

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3960 KiB  
Article
Characterization of Properties and Kinetic Analysis of Unsaturated Polyester Resin Synthesized from PET Alcoholysis Waste
by Ruixiang Wang, Hongliang Zhang, Jingshuang Liu and Tongjun Wei
Polymers 2025, 17(6), 820; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17060820 - 20 Mar 2025
Viewed by 312
Abstract
Recycling and reutilization of waste PET through alcoholysis has been a prominent focus of current research. However, the alcoholysis process is reversible, leading to the generation of oligomeric waste byproducts. To further utilize these wastes, this paper processed oligomeric waste derived from various [...] Read more.
Recycling and reutilization of waste PET through alcoholysis has been a prominent focus of current research. However, the alcoholysis process is reversible, leading to the generation of oligomeric waste byproducts. To further utilize these wastes, this paper processed oligomeric waste derived from various alcoholysis systems to synthesize unsaturated polyester resins (UPRs). The fundamental characteristics, mechanical properties, and curing processes of synthesized UPRs were analyzed based on GPC, FTIR, TG, tensile testing, DMA, and DSC tests. The results indicate that wastes were successfully synthesized to UPRs. The UPRs synthesized from ethylene glycol (EG) and diethylene glycol (DEG) possess more complex compositions; among these, the UPR synthesized from EG exhibited higher thermal stability, whereas the UPR synthesized from DEG showed a broader molecular weight distribution and a lower glass transition temperature (Tg). In addition, the UPR synthesized from DEG exhibited a remarkably high elongation at break (>180%), potentially attributed to its long molecular chains. Regarding curing characteristics, UPRs obtained from DEG and propylene glycol (PG) exhibited slower curing rates and demanded higher activation energies. Moreover, the curing processes of UPRs could be well described by the Sesták–Berggren autocatalytic model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study and Applications of Resins in Civil Engineering)
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33 pages, 12510 KiB  
Article
Viscoelastic Memory Effects in Cyclic Thermomechanical Loading of Epoxy Polymer and Glass-Reinforced Composite: An Experimental Study and Modeling Under Variable Initial Stress and Cycle Durations
by Maxim Mishnev, Alexander Korolev, Alexander Zadorin, Daria Alabugina, Denis Malikov and Fedor Zyrianov
Polymers 2025, 17(3), 344; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17030344 - 27 Jan 2025
Viewed by 978
Abstract
This article presents a study of the viscoelastic behavior of an epoxy polymer and a glass-reinforced composite based on it under cyclic thermomechanical loading. The goal is to model and explain the experimentally observed stress state formation, including the accumulation of residual stresses [...] Read more.
This article presents a study of the viscoelastic behavior of an epoxy polymer and a glass-reinforced composite based on it under cyclic thermomechanical loading. The goal is to model and explain the experimentally observed stress state formation, including the accumulation of residual stresses under various initial mechanical stress levels and heating/cooling cycle durations. An improved material model, implemented as a Python script, is used, allowing for the consideration of memory effects on thermomechanical loading depending on the level and nature (mechanical or thermal) of the initial stresses. A Python script was developed to determine the viscoelastic parameters (elastic modulus E1, elastic parameter E2, and viscosity) for the three-element Kelvin–Voigt model. These parameters were determined at different temperatures for both the polymer and the glass-reinforced composite used in the modeling. The accumulation of stresses under different ratios of mechanical and thermal stresses was also investigated. Experiments showed that high levels of residual stress could form in the pure epoxy polymer. The initial stress state significantly influences residual stress accumulation in the pure epoxy polymer. Low initial tensile stresses (0–1.5 MPa) resulted in substantial residual stress accumulation, exceeding the initial stresses by up to 2.7 times and reaching values of up to 2.1 MPa. Conversely, high initial stresses (around 4 MPa) suppressed residual stress accumulation due to the dominance of relaxation processes. This highlights the critical role of the initial loading conditions in predicting long-term material behavior. In the glass-reinforced plastic, the effect of residual stress accumulation was significantly weaker, possibly due to the reinforcement and high residual stiffness, even at elevated temperatures (the studies were conducted from 30 to 180 °C for the composite and from 30 to 90 °C for the polymer). The modeling results show satisfactory qualitative and quantitative agreement with the experimental data, offering a plausible explanation for the observed effects. The proposed approach and tools can be used to predict the stress–strain state of polymer composite structures operating under cyclic thermomechanical loads. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study and Applications of Resins in Civil Engineering)
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16 pages, 10252 KiB  
Article
Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Tribological Properties of Epoxy Composite Coating
by Han Yan, Junling Tan, Hui Chen, Tao He, Dezhi Zeng and Lin Zhang
Polymers 2025, 17(3), 282; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17030282 - 22 Jan 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 860
Abstract
Machine learning, being convenient and nondestructive, is beneficial for evaluating the tribological properties of coatings. Here, six machine learning algorithms, using a sericite/epoxy composite coating (SEC) as an example, were employed to assess the impact of filler content (10, 15, 20, 25, and [...] Read more.
Machine learning, being convenient and nondestructive, is beneficial for evaluating the tribological properties of coatings. Here, six machine learning algorithms, using a sericite/epoxy composite coating (SEC) as an example, were employed to assess the impact of filler content (10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 wt%) and mesh size on the tribological properties of epoxy composite coatings under different loads. The results showed that the gradient boosting regression model had superior accuracy and stability compared to the other regression models, achieving friction coefficient and wear rate prediction accuracies of 93.7% and 85.7%, respectively. This model outperformed others, including decision trees, extreme gradient boosting, and Gaussian process regression. Feature importance showed that the content of sericite had the most significant influence on the tribological properties. This work provides valuable guidance for the engineering application of this material. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study and Applications of Resins in Civil Engineering)
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