Abstract
This study experimentally investigated the compressive and flexyral strength development characteristics of polymer concrete using four different type polymeric resins such as unsaturated polyester, vinyl ester, epoxy, and PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) as binders. The test results show that the average compressive strength of those four different polymer concretes was 88.70 MPa, the average flexural strength was 20.30 MPa. Those test results show that compressive and flexural strengths of polymer concrete were much stronger than compressive and flexural strengths of ordinary Portland cement concrete. In addition, the relative gains of the compressive strength development at the age of 24 hrs compared to the age of 168 hrs were 68.6~88.3 %. Also, the relative gains of the flexural strength development at the age of 24 hrs compared to the age of 168 hrs were 73.8~93.4 %. These test results show that compressive and flexural strengths of each polymer concrete tested in this study were developed at the early age. Moreover, the prediction equations of compressive and flexural strength developments regarding the age were determined. The determined prediction equations could be applied to forecast the compressive and flexural strength developments of polymer concrete investigated in this study because those prediction equations have the high coefficients of correlation. Last, the relations between the compressive strength and the flexural strength of polymer concrete were determined and the flexural/compressive strength ratios were from 1/4 to 1/5. These results show that polymer concretes investigated in this study were appropriate as a flexural member of a concrete structure because the flexural/compressive strength ratios of polymer concrete were much higher than the flexural/compressive strength ratios of Portland cement concrete.
