TENSILE PROPERTIES OF A FLEXIBLE POLYMER-CEMENT COMPOSITE CONTAINING PORTLAND CEMENT AND VAE EMULSION

The aim of this paper is to investigate the tensile properties of a flexible polymer-cement composite (FPCC) which was mainly prepared by vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer emulsion and Portland cement. An orthogonal experiment design was used to investigate the effects of the powder-emulsion ratio, the cement ratio and the filler type on the basic tensile indicators including the elastic recovery ratio, the tensile strength, the critical tensile strain, the tensile modulus and the elongation at the break. The results indicate that the major influence factors for the tensile properties of the FPCC are the powder-emulsion ratio and the cement ratio. With an increase in these two parameters, the tensile strength and the tensile modulus increase and the elastic recovery ratio, the critical tensile strain and the elongation at the break decrease. Furthermore, for the tensile strength and the tensile modulus, the influence of the cement ratio is more significant than the powder-emulsion ratio, and this is reversed for the case of the elastic recovery ratio, the critical tensile strain and the elongation at the break. The effect of the filler type on the FPCC is far less than the other two factors although its F test results are significant. An FPCC added with ground calcium carbonate exhibits a relatively higher tensile strength and tensile modulus. An FPCC added with a quartz powder has a better deformation ability.