Application of encapsulated superabsorbent polymers in cementitious materials for stimulated autogenous healing

Superabsorbent polymers have shown potential for use in mortar and concrete as self-healing agents. The main drawback is, however, that these superabsorbent polymers also absorb mixing water during the preparation and casting of mortar or concrete, leading to a loss in workability. To avoid the absorption of mixing water, superabsorbent polymers were coated using a fluid bed spraying process. The barrier coating consisted of three successive coating layers: polyvinylbutyral as primer/wetting layer, cyclo-olefin copolymer as a barrier layer and a sol-gel derived zirconium-silicon oxide as an adhesion-promoting topcoat layer. The coated SAPs were characterized, and their swelling determined to quantify the delay in uptake of water and Ca(OH)(2) solution. The last was considered as the most important, as the SAPs will finally be applied in mortar or concrete having a pore solution with high pH. The results showed that swelling could be delayed to a large extent, but for a short time. Results showed that the self-sealing efficiency of mortars was not affected by coating the SAPs. Moreover, due to the reduced uptake of mixing water, the strength reduction, noticed when uncoated SAPs were added to the mortar, could partly be compensated

Cebama reference mix design for low-pH concrete and paste, preliminary characterisation

Trabajo presentado al Second Workshop of the HORIZON 2020 CEBAMA Project, celebrado en Espoo (Finlandia), del 16 al 18 de mayo de 2017.A reference low-pH concrete and paste mix were manufactured within the Cebama-project. Reference mixtures were casted at VTT in March 2016 and were distributed among some of the Cebama partners. Reference mix designs will be used by different partners as a common material to study their behaviour in contact with waters of different composition and interaction with radionuclides. Additionally, these materials will be used for model calibration. This article provides a summary of the characterization methods used by different partners and gives an overview of the experiments which will be made in the future with the reference materials.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Reasearch and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) (H2020-NFRP-2014/2015) under grant agreement n° 662147 (CEBAMA)