Effect of Hydrogel Nanocomposites on the Fresh and Hardened Properties of Cementitious Pastes

Made available in DSpace on 2021-06-25T10:17:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-12-01 Cement is a material widely used in civil construction due to its physical and chemical properties, ensuring a good performance. Some polymeric materials, such as hydrogels, have been frequently added to improve these properties and mitigate autogenous retraction in cementitious matrices. This paper aimed to evaluate the influence of polymeric hydrogel on the fresh and hardened properties of cementitious pastes (water/binder ratio = 0.35). Fresh properties results showed that the consistency and exudation indexes of these matrices decreased with an increase in the amount of hydrogel. The values of the bulk density of all cementitious matrices are around 2.1–2.2 g cm−3. Matrices containing up to 1.0% of hydrogel have satisfactory mechanical properties, reaching compressive strength of 60 MPa for 112 days of curing age. From these results, it is possible to conclude that hydrogels are promising materials for civil engineering applications, acting mainly as a filler and hydroretentor agent. Grupo de Compósitos e Nanocompósitos Híbridos (GCNH) Department of Physics and Chemistry Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência dos Materiais São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Engineering Institute Federal of São Paulo (IFSP) Grupo de Compósitos e Nanocompósitos Híbridos (GCNH) Department of Physics and Chemistry Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência dos Materiais São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Engineering