Experimental study and analytical model for the pore structure of epoxy latex-modified mortar

Concrete repair and rehabilitation prolong the effective service lives of structures and are important topics in the building field worldwide. Epoxy latex-modified cementitious materials have shown promise for a number of applications in building and construction, but the mix design processes remain arbitrary because their pore structures are not well understood. Porosity and pore size distributions are pore structure parameters that have direct effects on the mechanical properties and durability of concrete. In this paper, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) was used to analyze the porosities and pore size distributions of epoxy latex-modified mortars. The effects of the polymer-to-cement ratio on the pore structures of epoxy latex-modified mortars were investigated. Mortars with polymer-to-cement ratios of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% were cured for 7, 28, 60, and 90 days in this study. Images of specimen microstructures were obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which showed that increases in the amount of epoxy latex added caused the proportion of micropores in the mortar to decrease, while the proportion of macropores and gel pores increased. The pore size distribution of epoxy latex-modified mortar was described with a composite logarithmic model. Relationships between the pore size distribution and the polymer-to-cement ratio and the curing age were obtained. The method described herein might be sufficiently accurate and convenient to evaluate or predict the pore size distribution of an epoxy latex-modified mortar, i.e., by determining the statistical distribution and analyzing the probability. The process for design of the polymer concrete mix ratio will be facilitated by methods that accurately describe the structure of the epoxy latex-modified mortar.