Synthesized hydrogel co-polymerized with hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate and its impact on shrinkage mitigation and crack resistance of cement paste
Internal curing using super-absorbent polymers (SAPs) is an effective method to mitigate the autogenous shrinkage of cement paste. However, conventional SAPs, such as acrylamide/acrylic sodium copolymer, often leave voids in situ after water release, causing significant strength reduction. To addres...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Case Studies in Construction Materials |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214509525000609 |
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| author | Yiqun Guo Yinghui Huang Tongsheng Zhang Tao Wang Yuwei Ma Mingxing Ni Siqing Zeng Jiangxiong Wei Qijun Yu |
| author_facet | Yiqun Guo Yinghui Huang Tongsheng Zhang Tao Wang Yuwei Ma Mingxing Ni Siqing Zeng Jiangxiong Wei Qijun Yu |
| author_sort | Yiqun Guo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Internal curing using super-absorbent polymers (SAPs) is an effective method to mitigate the autogenous shrinkage of cement paste. However, conventional SAPs, such as acrylamide/acrylic sodium copolymer, often leave voids in situ after water release, causing significant strength reduction. To address this issue, we developed a low-shrinkage hydrogel (BMH) synthesized using hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate, which prevents volume collapse by enhancing polymer network stability and maintaining stable interfacial bonding with the cement matrix. Adding just 1 % BMH nearly eliminated autogenous shrinkage at 7 days by significantly reducing capillary stress and resulted in a 64.1 % reduction in crack area compared with conventional SAPs. The no-collapse characteristic of BMH ensures a wider and more uniform distribution of the internal cured region, effectively avoiding in-situ void formation and reducing strength loss (low as 20.7 %), and the conventional SAP leads to 34.9 % strength loss with 1 % SAP addition. The utilization of engineered hydrogel with hydrophobic component provides a novel strategy to reduce deformation and cracking sensitivity of cement-based materials without severe strength reduction. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-84904390405a4fe89169ec8038019c0e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2214-5095 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Case Studies in Construction Materials |
| spelling | doaj-art-84904390405a4fe89169ec8038019c0e2025-01-18T05:04:41ZengElsevierCase Studies in Construction Materials2214-50952025-07-0122e04261Synthesized hydrogel co-polymerized with hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate and its impact on shrinkage mitigation and crack resistance of cement pasteYiqun Guo0Yinghui Huang1Tongsheng Zhang2Tao Wang3Yuwei Ma4Mingxing Ni5Siqing Zeng6Jiangxiong Wei7Qijun Yu8Research Center for Wind Engineering and Engineering Vibration, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, ChinaSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, ChinaSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China; Corresponding authors.School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China; Corresponding authors.Research Center for Wind Engineering and Engineering Vibration, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, ChinaAnhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Green and Low-Carbon Technology in Cement Manufacturing, Hefei, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Highway Construction Group Co.,Ltd., Guangzhou, ChinaSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, ChinaSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, ChinaInternal curing using super-absorbent polymers (SAPs) is an effective method to mitigate the autogenous shrinkage of cement paste. However, conventional SAPs, such as acrylamide/acrylic sodium copolymer, often leave voids in situ after water release, causing significant strength reduction. To address this issue, we developed a low-shrinkage hydrogel (BMH) synthesized using hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate, which prevents volume collapse by enhancing polymer network stability and maintaining stable interfacial bonding with the cement matrix. Adding just 1 % BMH nearly eliminated autogenous shrinkage at 7 days by significantly reducing capillary stress and resulted in a 64.1 % reduction in crack area compared with conventional SAPs. The no-collapse characteristic of BMH ensures a wider and more uniform distribution of the internal cured region, effectively avoiding in-situ void formation and reducing strength loss (low as 20.7 %), and the conventional SAP leads to 34.9 % strength loss with 1 % SAP addition. The utilization of engineered hydrogel with hydrophobic component provides a novel strategy to reduce deformation and cracking sensitivity of cement-based materials without severe strength reduction.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214509525000609HydrogelCement pasteAutogenous shrinkageCrack resistanceInternal curingCollapse |
| spellingShingle | Yiqun Guo Yinghui Huang Tongsheng Zhang Tao Wang Yuwei Ma Mingxing Ni Siqing Zeng Jiangxiong Wei Qijun Yu Synthesized hydrogel co-polymerized with hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate and its impact on shrinkage mitigation and crack resistance of cement paste Case Studies in Construction Materials Hydrogel Cement paste Autogenous shrinkage Crack resistance Internal curing Collapse |
| title | Synthesized hydrogel co-polymerized with hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate and its impact on shrinkage mitigation and crack resistance of cement paste |
| title_full | Synthesized hydrogel co-polymerized with hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate and its impact on shrinkage mitigation and crack resistance of cement paste |
| title_fullStr | Synthesized hydrogel co-polymerized with hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate and its impact on shrinkage mitigation and crack resistance of cement paste |
| title_full_unstemmed | Synthesized hydrogel co-polymerized with hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate and its impact on shrinkage mitigation and crack resistance of cement paste |
| title_short | Synthesized hydrogel co-polymerized with hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate and its impact on shrinkage mitigation and crack resistance of cement paste |
| title_sort | synthesized hydrogel co polymerized with hydrophobic n butyl methacrylate and its impact on shrinkage mitigation and crack resistance of cement paste |
| topic | Hydrogel Cement paste Autogenous shrinkage Crack resistance Internal curing Collapse |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214509525000609 |
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