Effect of polyacrylamide on the different properties of cement and mortar

The effect of polyacrylamide (PAA) addition in the ordinary cement and mortar, on the properties, such as setting time, heat of hydration, compressive and tensile strength has been studied by adding 0.5-5.0% additive by weight of cement. While hardness was determined using the Vickers indentation method, the fracture toughness of cementitious bond and flexural strength have been determined using three point bending system. Corrosion resistance of resulting products was tested against each of 0.1 and 1.0N of HCl and H2SO4 and seawater. FT-IR and X-ray diffraction techniques have been employed to determine the phase compositions of the material. Polymeric phase is interspersed in cement causing decrease in water absorption and also its interaction with hydrating cement resulting additional bond formation leading to the increase in strength. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.