POLYMER-MODIFIED MORTARS

The incorporation of polymer resins into mortars for the installation of modular
rigid coverings has led to an essential qualitative leap in enhancing fresh and final
mortar properties. The term cementitious adhesives will be used hereafter to designate
materials whose performance in the fresh state may be characterised as follows:
Assurance of adhesion with minimum adhesive thickness, from 1 mm,
thanks to the adhesives water retention capability.
Optimisation of workability and wettability (wetting capability), because the
polymer particles act as bearings, and the adhesive is redispersible and able
to occlude air.
Thixotropic rheological behaviour in tile installation: that is, the adhesive
becomes fluid when a shear force is applied and viscous when that force is
withdrawn. This characteristic favours the stability of the adherend on the
adhesive before the adhesive matures, particularly with regard to vertical slip
or sag.
Delimitation of the workable lives and correction time, application and
maturing time, assuring adhesion under given environmental humidity and
temperature conditions.
It is in the final characteristics of cementitious adhesives, however, after they
have matured, that traditional mortar properties are surpassed: in the first place, in
adhesive strength, owing not just to the better bond between the hydrated cement and
the aggregates but also to the bridging effect of the polymer membrane with relation to
microcrack propagation as a result of the forces applied on to the adhesive bond. In
addition, depending on the type of resins used and the polymer/cement ratio,
cementitious adhesives provide:
Lower drying and maturing shrinkage, together with better cement hydration.
An adhesive bond with lower porosity, in addition to smaller-sized pores,
with a direct repercussion on impermeability and resistance to frost/thaw
cycles, as well as other characteristics relating to the durability of that bond.
Good anchoring on smooth, impervious surfaces.
Greater pull-off strength, bending
strength, and impact and abrasion
resistance as a result of the cohesion
attained in the polymer/hydrated
cement co-matrix. This increase in
mechanical strength depends on the
nature of the adhesive constituents,
and on mixing and maturing factors.
The values obtained also depend on
the test method used.
Bonding and anchoring polymer resin interphases in
the cementitious adhesive/porcelain tile interface.
WACKER POLYMER SYSTEMS

Adhesives
Polymer-modified mortars

 Deformability as a function of the viscoelastic behaviour of the incorporated

polymer resins.
Maintenance of adhesive strength under high-temperature conditions (up to
150170C).
The polymer/hydrated cement co-matrix formation mechanism may be summed
up in three phases, which explain the fresh and matured properties of cementitious
adhesives:
In the first phase, the polymer resin disperses uniformly in the cement and sand
paste, the hydration process beginning while the polymer particles are being deposited
around the unhydrated cement. In turn, the mixing water is saturated with calcium
hydroxide, which reacts with the silica in the sand, forming calcium silicate. The
presence of calcium hydroxide crystals at the surface of the aggregate particles together
with the resin has its effect on the final properties of the adhesive.
In the second phase, progressive hydration leads to increased occupation of the
pores by the resin, which initiates a flocculation process around the hydrated calcium
silicate and the aggregate particles. The match between the size of the pores that form in
the cement paste during hydration and polymer particle size explains that positioning.
At the same time, chemical reactions occur between the polymer resins, Ca2+ ions, and
the silicates and calcium hydroxide that form at the aggregate surface, giving rise to the
bond between the cement hydrates and the aggregate. The only weak point in this bond
is the presence of trapped air, encouraged by the presence of emulsifiers and stabilisers
in the resin composition, which is partly controlled by the inclusion of antifoamers.
In the third and final phase, once the water has been consumed in the hydration
process, the hardened polymer surrounds the hydrated cement and the aggregate in the
form of a continuous membrane, creating the monolithic structure responsible for the
final properties.

Schematic illustration of the maturing process in a polymer resin-modified mortar

SOURCE: Handbook of polymer-modified concrete and mortars. YOSHIHIKO OHAMA. ISBN 0-8155-1385-5

Adhesives
Polymer-modified mortars

It has been no easy task for the adhesives industry to combine and, often, to
optimise the fresh and matured characteristics of cementitious adhesives. In view of the
growing use of these types of adhesives, replacing traditional tile installation with
mortar, this introduction also needs to cite certain major compositional variables of
cementitious adhesives, which, according to the literature, may be broken down into
four fundamental groups: binders, aggregates, water retainers, and resins.
The remaining commercial offer of adhesives for the thin-bed fixing of modular
rigid coverings, without the use of cement as binder and, hence, involving 100%
chemical adhesion, comes from the specialised fields of structural adhesives (mostly
based on epoxy and urethane, which both have maturing temperatures of about 25 C)
and elastomer adhesives (RBA adhesives, based on natural rubber, butyl rubber,
neoprene, etc.).
COMPOSITIONAL VARIABLES OF CEMENTITIOUS ADHESIVES
A number of general notes follow, based on the literature, regarding
cementitious adhesive compositions:
The binder is usually common cement of the lowest strength class (CEM I
32.5 R), contained in variable quantities in the composition, of the order of
3040% by weight. Other types of cement (white cements, composite
cements, rapidly and ultra-rapidly maturing cements) are also compatible;
these are always of the 32.5 N/mm2 strength class in order not to increase the
stiffness of the system.
Washed silica sand with a balanced particle size distribution, as a function of
the intended thickness of the adhesive bond, is used as aggregate. The
cement/aggregate ratio, between 1:2 and 1:3 by weight, varies widely
depending on the type of adhesive.
Methylcellulose compounds, mainly methylhydroxyethyl cellulose (MHEC)
or methylhydroxylpropyl cellulose (MHPC) ethers, in quantities of 0.30.4%
by weight are incorporated into the compositions as water retainers. They
have a notable influence on the adhesives fresh characteristics (consistency,
workability, and application time, though their effect needs to be measured
jointly with the rheological behaviour of polymer resins in the fresh state).
Polymer resins are introduced into the composition in variable
polymer/cement proportions of 520% by weight, with a particle size of
0.055 mm. Copolymer systems are used of two or more different monomers
that also contain emulsifiers, stabilisers, and antifoamers. The total solids
content in polymer emulsions is about 4050% by weight.
Thermoplastic and elastomeric polymers are used that assure appropriate
cement hydration and high stability with relation to the Ca2+ and Al3+ cations
released during the hydration process. They also have a reduced air-occluding
action and are able to form a continuous membrane at the application
temperature, as well as to provide optimum bonding to the aggregate and
cement hydrates. Once the polymer membrane has hardened, it needs to be
resistant to water and to alkalis, without changing under climate conditions.
Finally, the polymer emulsions must display mechanical and thermal stability
in handling, transport and storage. The adhesive strength and deformability
under tensile and shear stresses are the result of the viscoelastic behaviour of
Adhesives
Polymer-modified mortars

the hardened membrane, between the glass transition temperature and the
melting temperature.
The most widely used resins are styrene-butadiene (SBR), polychloroprene
(CR), polyacrylic ester (PAE), and poly(ethylene vinyl acetate) (EVA)
emulsions. Polyvinyl acetate and poly(vinylidene chloride-vinyl chloride) are
not usually used, owing to low resistance to water and the release of chlorine
ions, respectively.
Potable mixing water, free of chlorides, in a water/cement ratio of 3060% by
weight, plays an essential role in the fresh characteristics and maturing of the
adhesive: hence the importance of observing the manufacturers instructions.
Water retainers
In a mortar that has not been modified with polymer resins, the incorporation of
methylcellulose compounds enhances mortar fresh characteristics; however, the
following should be noted:
Such compounds alone are insufficient to provide sufficiently safe
application times (subsequently defined as open time) in thin-bed tile
installation.
Methylcellulose causes bloating owing to water absorption and capillary
sealing, though the effect on drying shrinkage is smaller than in other
compounds.
These compounds delay the hydration process and adversely affect
mechanical strength.
MHEC compounds provide greater consistency and, as a result, increase
vertical slip or sag resistance, but they retain less adhesive surface water than
MHPC compounds, which in addition display greater wetting capability in
the same application time.
It has already been noted that, in all cases, the fresh characteristics of a
cementitious adhesive must be evaluated jointly with the influence of the polymer
emulsion in the rheological behaviour of the paste, the following being assessed:
Ease of application, equivalent to flowability, and coverage of the tile back
(wetting capability).
Thixotropic behaviour, which combines lower viscosity when the tile slides
on the adhesive (shear stress) and higher viscosity when that stress ceases:
that is, adhesive consistency and vertical slip resistance increase.
Moderate loss of volume and shrinkage in hydration and drying processes
until total maturity/hardening; this is important in applications with medium
thickness (820 mm).
The longest possible open time under laboratory climate conditions.

Adhesives
Polymer-modified mortars

Adhesive strength/deformability as a function of the polymer resin

Adhesion technology has been the focus of research and development for at least
the last three decades. Technology transfer towards the construction materials industry
has been incremental in the same period. In that context, the modification of mortars
and concretes and the strengthening of the latter with composite materials have played a
key role. Part of that innovative effort has come from the adhesives industry for the
installation of modular rigid coverings, an industry whose top priorities have included
enhancement of adhesive quality, durability, and performance. Adhesive
strength/deformability has been one of the fundamental parameters targeted by research
since, as already noted above, modular rigid coverings need to be adapted to the
unstable structures, substrates, and fixing surfaces found in much of todays building
construction. Research has thus been conducted into:
The viscoelastic performance of polymer resins as a function of their
molecular weight, the selected copolymers, and the role of the crystalline
phase in semi-crystalline polymers.
Achieving high energy-absorption capability (deformability) in the largest
possible range of temperatures, with glass transition temperatures about
(above and below) 0C (soft polymers), without penalising the initial
adhesion in a cement hydration process that is usually incomplete and in
which hard polymers perform better.
The rheological performance of polymer emulsions at ambient temperature,
as a function of resin composition and particle size.
This innovative effort has also focused on RBA and structural adhesives: in the former,
enhancing their performance on exposure to water and high temperature; in the latter,
optimising adhesive strength under thermal oscillation, mechanical stresses, and in
relation to chemical resistance.

Adhesives
Polymer-modified mortars