Abstract
PURPOSES : The objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental resistance of bio-polymer concrete for use of pavement materials developed for reducing the carbon-dioxide. METHODS : The compression, tension, and bending strength tests were conducted on the bio-polymer concrete specimens with and without environmental conditioning. The specimens were conditioned using the freezing-thaw and accelerated weathering process for long period of time. To assess the resistance against chloride, the chloride ion penetration resistance tests were carried out on the bio-polymer concrete specimens. RESULTS : Test results show that the maximum difference in strength between specimens with and without conditioning is about 2.6MPa indicating that the effect of environmental conditioning on specimen strength is negligible. Based on the chloride ion penetration resistance test, the penetration quantity of electric charge of the specimens is zero and there is no ion penetration within the bio-polymer concrete. CONCLUSIONS : It is found from this study that there is slight change in strength of bio-polymer concretes before and after environmental conditioning process and no chloride ion penetration observed in these specimens. Therefore, the developed bio-polymer concretes can be applied effectively as pavement materials due to the small change of physical properties with environment change.
