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Cement-Based Polymeric Composites: Design, Synthesis and Properties

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (18 November 2022) | Viewed by 12749

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Damian Palin

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Guest Editor

Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, CB2 1PZ Cambridge, UK
Interests: biologically inspired materials synthesis; smart materials; innovative construction materials

Dr. Neven Ukrainczyk

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Guest Editor

Institute of Construction and Building Materials, Technical University of Darmstadt, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany
Interests: sustainable construction and building materials; durability; reactive transport in porous materials; reaction thermodynamics and kinetics of materials; computational analysis; mathematical modeling; functional materials properties
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Dr. Bahman Ghiassi

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School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Interests: textile-reinforced composites; masonry repair and strengthening; low-carbon cement-based composites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cement-based composites are the construction material of choice. However, with the global demand for cementitious materials rising and the associated depletion of resources and pollution, there is a need for higher-performance, smarter and ultimately more sustainable cementitious composites. In response to this challenge, the cementitious materials community is developing new cementitious materials containing a growing range of non-conventional additives with high-performance and emergent functional properties.

This Special Issue on “Cement-Based Polymeric Composites: Design, Synthesis and Properties” will curate recent advances in the design, synthesis, characterization, and utilization of cementitious composites, highlighting some of the challenges in the development and implementation of these materials. Topics will include but are not limited to:

Novel non-conventional cementitious composites, including those with fiber and textile reinforcement, and nanoparticle and smart additives;
The functional performance and;
Application of these materials.

Dr. Damian Palin
Dr. Neven Ukrainczyk
Dr. Bhaman Ghiassi
Guest Editors

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

cementitious composites
design, fabrication
fibre and textile reinforcement
smart additives
experimental testing and characterization
functional performance
numerical modelling
durability
sustainability

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 6022 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterization and Performance Enhancement of Cement-Based Thermoelectric Materials

by Ruchita Jani, Niall Holmes, Roger West, Kevin Gaughan, Xiaoli Liu, Ming Qu, Esther Orisakwe, Lorenzo Stella, Jorge Kohanoff, Hongxi Yin and Bartlomiej Wojciechowski

Polymers 2022, 14(12), 2311; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14122311 - 07 Jun 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1700

Abstract

Thermoelectric materials enable the direct conversion of thermal to electrical energy. One application of this is ambient heat energy harvesting where relatively stable temperature gradients existing between the inside and outside of a building could be utilized to produce electricity. Buildings can thus change from energy consumers to energy generators. This could ultimately help reduce the surface temperatures and energy consumption of buildings, especially in urban areas. In this paper, research work carried out on developing and characterizing a cement-based thermoelectric material is presented. Cement-based samples are doped with different metal oxides (Bi₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃) to enhance their thermoelectric properties, which are defined through their Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity. The study also discusses the positive impact of moisture content on the electrical conductivity Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cement-Based Polymeric Composites: Design, Synthesis and Properties)

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29 pages, 8808 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Systematic Experimental Assessment of POFA Concrete Incorporating Waste Tire Rubber Aggregate

by Akram M. Mhaya, S. Baharom, Mohammad Hajmohammadian Baghban, Moncef L. Nehdi, Iman Faridmehr, Ghasan Fahim Huseien, Hassan Amer Algaifi and Mohammad Ismail

Polymers 2022, 14(11), 2294; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14112294 - 05 Jun 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2137

Abstract

Several researchers devoted considerable efforts to partially replace natural aggregates in concrete with recycled materials such as recycled tire rubber. However, this often led to a significant reduction in the compressive strength of rubberized concrete due to the weaker interfacial transition zone between the cementitious matrix and rubber particles and the softness of rubber granules. Thereafter, significant research has explored the effects of supplementary cementitious materials such as zeolite, fly ash, silica fume, and slag used as partial replacement for cement on rubberized concrete properties. In this study, systematic experimental work was carried out to assess the mechanical properties of palm oil fuel ash (POFA)-based concrete incorporating tire rubber aggregates (TRAs) using the response surface methodology (RSM). Based on the findings, reasonable compressive, flexure, and tensile strengths were recorded or up to 10% replacement of sand with recycled tire fibre and fine TRAs. In particular, the reduction in compressive, tensile, and flexural strengths of POFA concrete incorporating fibre rubber decreased by 16.3%, 9.8%, and 10.1% at 365 days compared to normal concrete without POFA and rubber. It can be concluded that utilization of a combination of POFA and fine or fibre rubber could act as a beneficial strategy to solve the weakness of current rubberized concrete’s strength as well as to tackle the environmental issues of the enormous stockpiles of waste tires worldwide. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cement-Based Polymeric Composites: Design, Synthesis and Properties)

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16 pages, 7848 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Evaluation of Carbon Reinforced TRC with Cement Suspension Matrix at Elevated Temperature

by Richard Fürst, Petr Hejtmánek, Tomáš Vlach, Jakub Řepka, Vladimír Mózer and Petr Hájek

Polymers 2022, 14(11), 2174; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14112174 - 27 May 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1579

Abstract

Textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) is a new composite material comprising high-performance concrete and textile reinforcement from textile yarns with a matrix, usually consisting of epoxy resins (ER). The most significant advantage of ER is the homogenization of all filaments in the yarn and full utilization of its tensile potential. Nevertheless, ER matrix is a critical part of TRC design from the perspective of the fire resistance due to its relatively low resistance at temperatures of approximately 120

^{\circ}

C. This work expands the previously performed mechanical tests at normal temperatures with cement suspension (CS) as a non-combustible material for the yarn matrix. Here, the mechanical properties of CS matrix at elevated temperatures were verified. It was found that the addition of polypropylene fibers into HPC negatively affected the mechanical results of CS matrix specimens. Simultaneously, thermal insulation effect of the covering layers with different thicknesses did not significantly influence the residual bending strength of specimens with CS matrix and achieved similar results as reference specimens. Furthermore, all specimens with ER matrix progressively collapsed. Finally, CS as a textile reinforcement of yarn matrix appears to be a suitable solution for increasing the temperature resistance of TRC structures and for substituting synthetic resins. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cement-Based Polymeric Composites: Design, Synthesis and Properties)

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18 pages, 5634 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Functional Performance, Self-Healing Properties and Degradation Resistance of Poly-Lactic Acid and Polyhydroxyalkanoates Composites

by Emanuele Rossi, Arjun Raghavan, Oguzhan Copuroglu and Henk M. Jonkers

Polymers 2022, 14(5), 926; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14050926 - 25 Feb 2022

Viewed by 1668

Abstract

In this study, the applicability of two bacteria-based healing agents (e.g., poly-lactic acid and polyhydroxyalkanoate) in blast furnace slag cement (BFSC) mortar has been assessed. An experimental campaign on the functional properties, self-healing capacity, freezing–thawing and carbonation resistance has been conducted in comparison with plain mortar (Ctrl). Due to the relatively low alkalinity of the mixture, the addition of poly-lactic acid healing agents (PLA) caused coarsening of the micro-structure, decrease of strength and did not improve the self-healing capacity of the material. Among other consequences, the mass loss due to the freezing–thawing of PLA specimens was about 5% higher than that of the Ctrl specimens. On the contrary, no detrimental effect of the mortar functional properties was measured when polyhydroxyalkanoate healing agents (AKD) were added. The self-healing capacity of AKD specimens was higher than that of the Ctrl specimens, reaching a maximum healed crack width of 559 µm after 168 days of self-healing, while it was 439 µm for the Ctrl specimens and 385 µm for PLA specimens. The air void content of the AKD mixture was 0.9% higher than that of the Ctrl, increasing its resistance against freezing–thawing cycles. This study aims to confirm the potential applicability of AKD particles as self-healing agents in low-alkaline cementitious mixtures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cement-Based Polymeric Composites: Design, Synthesis and Properties)

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Review

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25 pages, 6643 KiB

Open AccessReview

Cement-Based Repair Materials and the Interface with Concrete Substrates: Characterization, Evaluation and Improvement

by Xuemin Song, Xiongfei Song, Hao Liu, Haoliang Huang, Kasimova Guzal Anvarovna, Nurmirzayev Azizbek Davlatali Ugli, Yi Huang, Jie Hu, Jiangxiong Wei and Qijun Yu

Polymers 2022, 14(7), 1485; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14071485 - 06 Apr 2022

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4232

Abstract

Surface damages usually occur in concrete structures. In order to restore the functions and prolong the service life of concrete structures, their surface damages should be repaired in time. This paper reviews the main requirements for repair materials for concrete structures and the most used inorganic repair materials, such as cement-based materials, alkali-activated materials and polymer modified inorganic repair materials. Moreover, techniques to characterize and even improve the interfaces between these repair materials and concrete substrate are summarized. Cement-based material has the advantages of good mechanical properties and consistency with concrete substrate while having the problems of high shrinkage and low flexibility. Polymer modified materials were found as having lower shrinkage and higher flexural strength. Increasing the roughness or humidity of the surface, adding fibers and applying interfacial agents can improve the bond strength between cement-based repair materials and concrete substrates. All of these repair materials and techniques can help to build a good interfacial bonding, and mechanisms of how they improve the interface are discussed in this article. These are of great importance in guaranteeing the effectiveness of the repair of the concrete surface and to guide the research and development of new repair materials. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cement-Based Polymeric Composites: Design, Synthesis and Properties)

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