Mechanical Properties and Microstructures of Cement Mortar Modified with Styrene-Butadiene Polymer Emulsion

In this paper, styrene-butadiene polymer emulsion SD622S was adopted to modify cement mortar; mechanical properties of cement mortars were studied and microstructures was analyzed by means of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Specific Surface Area & Pore Distribution Analyzer. The results show that in contrast to ordinary cement mortar, if water to cement ratio (W/C) is constant, compressive strength of modified cement mortar can decrease, while flexural strength and toughness, ratio of compressive strength to flexural strength, increase with the increase of polymer to cement ratio in mass (P/C) at 7 and 28 curing days. With the increase of P/C, net structure made from polymer and cement hydration products is developed and pore whose size is smaller than 200Å begins to increase, which indicates pore diameters in modified cement mortar change to be finer. So microstructures of modified cement mortar become denser and display higher toughness.