Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Journal of Composites
Volume 2013, Article ID 948745, 12 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/948745

Review Article
Mechanical Properties of Polymer Concrete
Raman Bedi,1 Rakesh Chandra,1 and S. P. Singh2
1
2

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar 144011, India
Department of Civil Engineering, Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar 144011, India

Correspondence should be addressed to Raman Bedi; [email protected]

Received 19 August 2013; Revised 6 November 2013; Accepted 6 November 2013
Academic Editor: Hui Shen Shen
Copyright 2013 Raman Bedi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Polymer concrete was introduced in the late 1950s and became well known in the 1970s for its use in repair, thin overlays and floors,
and precast components. Because of its properties like high compressive strength, fast curing, high specific strength, and resistance
to chemical attacks polymer concrete has found application in very specialized domains. Simultaneously these materials have been
used in machine construction also where the vibration damping property of polymer concrete has been exploited. This review deals
with the efforts of various researchers in selection of ingredients, processing parameters, curing conditions, and their effects on the
mechanical properties of the resulting material.

1. Introduction
Polymer concrete is a composite material which results from
polymerization of a monomer/aggregate mixture. The polymerized monomer acts as binder for the aggregates and the
resulting composite is called Concrete. The developments
in the field of polymer concrete date back to the late 1950s
when these materials were developed as replacement of
cement concrete in some specific applications. Early usage
of polymer concrete has been reported for building cladding
and so forth. Later on because of rapid curing, excellent bond
to cement concrete and steel reinforcement, high strength,
and durability, it was extensively used as repair material
[1]. Precast polymer concrete has been used to produce a
variety of products like acid tanks, manholes, drains, highway
median barriers, and so forth.
The properties of polymer concrete differ greatly depending on the conditions of preparation. For a given type of
polymer concrete, the properties are dependent upon binder
content, aggregate size distribution, nature and content of
the microfiller, curing conditions, and so forth [2]. The most
commonly used resins for polymer concrete are unsaturated
polyester resin, methyl methacrylate, epoxy resins, furan
resins, polyurethane resins, and urea formaldehyde resin [3].
Generally, more than 7580% volume in polymer concrete
is occupied by the aggregates and fillers. The aggregates

are normally taken as inert materials dispersed throughout

the polymer matrix. Normally aggregates are added in two
size groups, that is, coarse aggregates comprising material
of more than 5 mm size and fine aggregates having size
less than 5 mm. The grading of aggregates in the case of
polymer concrete is nonstandardized till date and varies
widely from system to system. In addition to the coarse and
fine aggregates, microfillers are also added sometimes to the
polymer concrete system mainly with an aim to fill the microvoids. Similar to the conventional concrete, polymer concrete can also be reinforced for improving its mechanical
properties with different kinds of fibres. The use of steel, glass,
polypropylene, and nylon fibres has been reported in the
literature.
The importance of research on polymer concrete materials has been recognized as early as in 1971 with the
setting up of ACI Committee 548Polymers in Concrete.
The Committee has been responsible for developing a large
database on properties of polymer concrete. The Committee
has also issued state-of-the-art reports and user guides on
polymer concrete. RILEM (International Union of Testing
and Research Laboratories for Materials & Structures) with
setting up of Technical Committee TC-105-CPC (Concrete
Polymer Composites) and TC-113-CPT (Test Methods for
Concrete Polymer Composites) has been instrumental in

2
preparing various test methods for these materials. Society of
Material Science Japan (JSMS) has also contributed towards
the development of polymer concrete materials with the
help of Synthetic-Resins-for-Concrete Committee. Society
of Material Science Japan has also published design recommendations for polyester concrete structures as well as a
mix design guide. Amongst the countries which are using
polymer concrete composites, the standardization work on
various test methods and applications has been taken up
mainly by Japan, United States, United Kingdom, Germany,
and erstwhile Soviet Union.
Owing to their superior properties like rapid curing, high
compressive strength, high specific stiffness and strength,
resistance to chemicals and corrosion, ability to form complex shapes, excellent vibration damping properties, and so
forth, polymer concrete materials have also been extensively
used for applications other than for which these were originally developed. Use of polymer concrete has been reported
in electrical insulation systems [4, 5] as well as machine tool
applications since late 70s wherein these have been used to
replace traditional materials like cast iron for machine tool
bases [614]. Lot of research has been carried out in last
few decades to develop promising applications of polymer
concrete, that is, its use in machine tool structures [15
22]. However, before the potential of these materials as an
alternative material can be fully harnessed, a methodology for
assessment of the long term properties must be available.

2. Factors Affecting Properties of

Polymer Concrete
Polymer concrete is prepared by mixing a polymeric resin
with aggregate mixture. Microfillers are also employed sometimes to fill the voids contained in the aggregate mixture.
Polymeric resins that are commonly used in polymer concrete are methacrylate, polyester resin, epoxy resin, vinylester
resin, and furan resins. Unsaturated polyester resins are the
most commonly used resin systems for polymer concrete
because of their low cost, easy availability, and good mechanical properties [23]. Furan resins are also used to a great extent
in European countries. MMA has got a limited application
because of its higher flammability and disagreeable odour;
however, it has received some attention because of its good
workability and low temperature curability [3]. The choice
of particular type of resin depends upon factors like cost,
desired properties, and chemical/weather resistance required.
Epoxy resins are preferred over polyester because of their
better mechanical properties as well as better durability when
subjected to harsh environmental factors, but higher cost is
a deterrent in their widespread acceptance. A comparative
study on the properties of epoxy and polymer concrete states
that traditionally epoxy concrete has better properties than
polyester concrete, but the properties of polyester concrete
can be enhanced up to the same level by addition of microfillers and silane coupling agents [24].
The resin dosage reported by various authors mostly lie in
the range of 10 to 20% by weight of polymer concrete. Early
studies on polyester resin concrete while taking resin content

Journal of Composites
as a variable reported that compressive strength of polymer
concrete is dependent upon the resin content [25]. Both the
compressive strength and flexural strength increase with the
increase in polymer content. After reaching the peak these
either decrease or remain unchanged with further increase in
the resin content. The lowest polymer content at which the
properties are maximum will represent the optimum resin
content for the system under study. It is observed that both
flexural and compressive strength attain the maximum value
between 14 and 16% resin content by weight. Further studies
in this area have also provided similar results. Variation of
compressive strength of polymer concrete for various types
of resins and their dosage has been reported in the literature
[26]. It was observed that the highest strength was obtained
in all types of resins at a resin dosage of 12%. For two
types of epoxy resins, the strength decreased by increasing
the resin content to 15%, whereas, for polyester resin, it
almost remained constant. The optimum resin content for a
particular polymer concrete system is also dependent upon
the nature of aggregate used in the system. Higher resin
dosage is recommended when using fine aggregate, because
of the large surface area of these materials [2729].
Various types of aggregate materials have been used by the
researchers, most of these based upon the choice of locally
available materials to reduce the cost. River sand [30, 31],
foundry sand [27, 32, 33], crushed stone [34, 35], quartz,
granite [3638], and gravel are some of the materials reported
by various authors.
A large number of studies have been reported regarding
the effect of reinforcement of polymer concrete by addition of
various types of fibers. Steel fibers, glass fibers, carbon fibres,
and polyester fibres have been added in polymer concrete in
varying quantities for enhancement of its properties. Most of
the studies have reported the addition of glass fibres in the
range of 0 to 6% by weight of polymer concrete. It has been
reported that addition of glass fibres improves the postpeak
behaviour of polymer concrete. The strength and toughness
of polymer concrete also increase with addition of fibres. Few
studies on silane treatment of glass fibres before their use
in polymer concrete report an enhancement in mechanical
properties up to the extent of 25% [39]. Table 1 provides the
details of the various types of reinforcements and their effect
on the properties of polymer concrete as reported by various
researchers.
A microfiller is also often added to polymer concrete mix
to reduce the void content in aggregate mixture and thereby
increase the strength of polymer concrete. The microfiller
is a fine powder with a particle size less than 80 microns.
Use of calcium carbonate, fly ash, and silica fume has been
reported in literature. Fly ash is a by the product of the
coal burning in power plants and is used as a filler because
of its easy availability and because its usage in polymer
concrete is reported to yield better mechanical properties
as well as reduced water absorption [37]. Addition of fly
ash also improves the workability of fresh polymer concrete
mix resulting in products with excellent surface finish [40].
Studies have shown that small size of spherical particles also
contributes to a better packing of the aggregate materials
which reduces porosity and hinders the penetration of

Journal of Composites

3
Table 1: Fibre reinforcements and their effect on polymer concrete.

Author
Broniewski
et al. [55]

Valore and
Naus [56]

Resin

Aggregate

Epoxy resin

Sand

Polyester,
vinylester,
epoxy

Fibers addition
Steel fibers of 0.24 mm
diameter and 15 mm
length, added in 0 to
3.5% by weight

Nylon, glass, aramid,

steel fibers of length
12.7 to 38.1 mm

Properties evaluated Brief findings

Flexural strength,
creep

Compressive
strength, Youngs
modulus, split tensile
strength, and density

(i) Steel fibres of

Compressive strength,
0.4 mm diameter, 13%
flexural strength, and
(ii) Glass fibres of
split tensile strength
12.7 mm length, 13%

Brockenbrough
Methacrylate
[57]

Vipulanandan
et al. [39]

(i) Epoxy
(ii) Polyester

Ottawa sand,
blasting sand

Glass fibres,
04%

Compressive strength,
flexural strength, and
split tensile strength

Vipulanandan
and Mebarkia
[58]

Polyester

Blasting sand

Glass fibres, 06%

Flexural strength

Mebarkia and
Vipulanandan
[59]

Polyester

Blasting sand

Glass fibers of 13 mm
length, 06%

Compressive strength

Rebeiz [31]

Polyester

Gravel, dried
sand

Steel fibers of 0.5 mm

diameter and 30 mm Compressive strength
length, 02% by weight

Sett and
Vipulanandan
[60]

Polyester

Blasting sand

Compressive strength,
Glass fibers and carbon
tensile strength, and
fibers, 06% by weight
damping ratio

Addition of 3.5% steel fibers increases the

flexural strength by 40%.
(i) Compressive strength increases as
function of density.
(ii) Flexural strength is related to
compressive strength (inPsi) as
= 25 psi.
(iii) Fiber addition increases flexural
strength and ductility.
(iv) Longer fibers have better effect on
compressive strength.
(i) Addition of steel fibers increases the
compressive strength, whereas the
addition of glass fibers decreases the
compressive strength.
(ii) Flexural strength of polymer concrete
is observed to increase by addition of both
steel and glass fibers.
(i) Maximum compressive and flexural
strength are reported at 14% resin content.
(ii) Addition of glass fibers increases the
flexural strength, compressive strength.
(iii) Silane treatment increases the flexural
strength by 25%.
(i) Flexural strength increases with
increase in resin content.
(ii) Addition of glass fibers is reported to
enhance the strength and toughness of
polymer concrete.
(iii) Silane treatment of aggregate and
fibers also enhanced the flexural strength.
(i) For 18% resin and 4% glass fiber
content, an increase of 33% in compressive
strength was reported over unreinforced
polymer concrete.
(ii) Failure strain and toughness increase
with addition of fibers.
(i) An optimum mix having 10% resin,
45% gravel, 32% dried sand, and 13% fly
ash was reported.
(ii) Polymer concrete achieves around 80%
of the 28-day strength in one day.
(iii) Addition of steel fibers beyond 1.3%
increases the compressive strength of the
specimens from 80 MPa to 100 MPa.
(iv) Steel fibers also increase the ductility
of the polymer concrete which results in a
better postpeak behavior.
(i) Compressive strength and the failure
strain are reported to increase by 40% by
addition of 6% of glass fibers.
(ii) Carbon fibers do not have any
significant effect on the compressive
properties.
(iii) It was further observed that damping
ratio of polymer concrete increased with
addition of glass fibers and carbon fibers.

Journal of Composites
Table 1: Continued.

Author

Resin

Aggregate

Fibers addition

Laredo Dos
Reis [32]

Epoxy

Foundry
sand

Glass fibers & carbon

fibers, 02% by weight

Jo et al. [43]

Polyester

Xu and Yu [61]

Polyester

Granite

Copper coated stainless

steel fibers, / ratio of
70

Epoxy resin

Granite

Glass fibers of
525 mm length, added
1 to 5% by weight

Bai et al. [38]

Pea gravel
and siliceous Nano-MMT particles
river sand

aggressive agents, thus considerably improving the chemical

resistance of polymer concrete [23]. Addition of fly ash has
been reported by a number of researchers which not only
results in improvement in the workability of the polymer
concrete mix but also has a significant effect on the mechanical properties. Enhancement in compressive strength up
to 30% has been reported by addition of 15% fly ash in
polymer concrete [41]. Addition of fly ash is also reported
to have better performance enhancement when compared to
addition of silica fume as a filler [42]. Heat assisted drying of
the aggregates before mixing with resin has been suggested
by most of the researchers. It has been reported that water
content of the aggregate has a remarkable influence on the
strength of polymer concrete and therefore the water content
shall be limited to 0.1% [30]. It has been recommended by
various researchers later on that the moisture content of
the aggregate shall not exceed from 0.1% to 0.5% for better
mechanical properties [41, 4345].
Various curing regimes have been reported by researchers
like room temperature curing, high temperature curing,
water curing, and so forth. Curing time studies on polymer
concrete have established that it achieves around 7075% of
its strength after a curing of one day at room temperature [31,
45, 46], whereas normal Portland cement concrete usually
achieves about 20% of its 28-day strength in one day. The early
strength gain is important in precast applications because it
permits the structures to resist higher stresses early due to
form-stripping, handling, transportation, and erection operations. It is observed that compressive strength of polymer
concrete almost becomes constant after dry curing for a
period of 7 days [47].

Properties evaluated Brief findings

(i) Addition of fibers increases the
compressive strength by 2745% for glass
fibers and 3655% increase for carbon
Compressive strength
fibers.
(ii) Ductility of polymer concrete
improved with addition of fibers.
(i) Polymer concrete mix was obtained
using 11% resin content, 45% coarse
aggregates, 35% fine aggregates, and 11%
Flexural strength,
CaCO3 .
split tensile strength
(ii) It was found that flexural strength and
split tensile strength increase with
addition of nanoparticles.
(i) Addition of steel fibers improves the
properties of polymer concrete.
Compressive strength (ii) Compressive strength of steel fiber
reinforced polymer concrete is higher than
that of plain polymer concrete.
(i) Granite mix is the most important
parameter controlling the damping.
(ii) Highest damping is reported for mix
Damping
containing 16% epoxy resin, 5% glass
fibers, and granite mix having high
proportion of fine aggregate.

The influence of the aggregate grading on the properties

of polymer concrete has been long known. The coarse and
fine aggregate should be proportioned in such a way that
aggregate mixture has minimum void content and maximum
bulk density. This minimizes the amount of binder required
to assure proper bonding of all the aggregate particles.
Normally, the binder content ranges from 5% to 15% of the
total weight but if the aggregate mix is fine, it may even
require up to 20% binder. Very few studies have been reported
in the literature regarding the proportioning of the aggregate
mix in polymer concrete. Earlier studies in this regard
have reported that polymer concrete made with aggregate
grading according to Fullers curve had the highest strength
[30, 48]. Further it was reported that use of gap graded
aggregate resulted in minimum void content. An empirical
relation has also been suggested in the literature, which can
be used to determine the proportions of coarse and fine
aggregates of least-void content [49]. Later studies suggest the
optimum mix composition of aggregate for minimising the
void content based on design of experiments approach [50].
The mix composition suggested was again based upon the use
of gap graded aggregates.
Since, for the cost considerations, the binder content used
in polymer concrete materials is quite low, the adhesion of
aggregates takes place through a fine layer of resin around
the aggregates. A larger contact area is, therefore, desirable
which necessitates a proper space filling of the gaps by
smaller aggregates or microfiller particles. Use of a silane
coupling agent (which strengthens the adhesion between the
resin and the aggregates) improves the adhesion and thus
the ultimate strength of the polymer concrete. Adhesion at

Journal of Composites

the interface, in absence of any chemical bonding, may be

sufficiently good even when it is due to secondary forces
between two phases. The use of silane coupling agents, which
may provide chemical bonding between the two phases,
considerably improves the interfacial adhesion and therefore
enhances the mechanical properties of these materials. A
few studies on the use of various types of silane coupling
agents have been reported in the literature. Various methods
of application of silane agents like integral blend method and
surface treatment method have been compared [24, 51, 52].
It has been reported that when using integral blend method
of silane addition, 1% silane by the weight of resin gives
optimum results [53, 54]. Compressive strength and flexural
strength of polymer concrete containing silane coupling
agents are 15 to 20% higher than those of normal polymer
concrete [53].
2.1. Characterization of Mechanical Properties of Polymer
Concrete. There have been a lot of studies reported on characterization of mechanical properties of polymer concrete since
early 1970s. Table 2 summarizes the efforts of various authors
and the major conclusions drawn based upon these studies.
2.2. Fatigue Studies on Polymer Concrete (PC). Studies on
fatigue behaviour of polymer concrete are very scarce in
the literature. The two million cycle fatigue endurance limit
has been reported as a stress level of 59%, very similar to
that of cement concrete [68]. A study to evaluate the effect
of frequency of testing concluded that frequency of testing
shall be taken as a parameter for fatigue testing of polymer
concrete. Fatigue behaviour of polymer concrete has been
described based upon S-N relationships. These relationships
are based upon the basic power law functions. The research
has shown that the empirical equations used to predict fatigue
behaviour of plain concrete fit well for polymer concrete
also [69]. Equation (1) as described for cement concrete was
applied to fatigue data of polymer concrete [70]:

= (10) (log ) ,

(1)

where is the probability of survival, is the stress level, is

number of cycles to failure, and , , and are experimental
constants.
Failure probability has been incorporated in the S-N relationships for polymer concrete to take care of the stochastic
nature of fatigue [71].

3. Discussion
Polymer concrete has initially been developed as an alternative material in the domain of civil engineering but over
a period of time, owing to its superior properties, has
found favour as a replacement material in machine building
applications. Rapid curing, high compressive strength, high
specific stiffness and strength, resistance to chemicals and
corrosion, ability to mould into complex shapes, and excellent
vibration damping properties are mainly responsible for
its use in these applications. It has been observed that

the properties of polymer concrete depend upon various

parameters like type and amount of resin/polymer used, type
and mix proportioning of aggregate, moisture content of
aggregate, nature and content of reinforcing fibers, addition
of microfillers, curing conditions, use of silane coupling
agents, and so forth.
Epoxy resins provide better mechanical and durability
properties than polyester, vinylester, furan, and methacrylate
resins, but there is inherent high cost associated with these
materials. The properties of polyester concrete can also be
enhanced to the level of epoxy concrete by addition of
microfillers and silane coupling agents. The resin dosage
reported by various authors mostly lies in the range of 10
to 20% by weight of polymer concrete. Higher resin dosage
is recommended when using fine aggregate, because of the
large surface area of these materials. The studies to find
the optimum resin dosage for maximizing the mechanical
properties have yielded different results depending upon the
specific type of resin and aggregate used. It is observed that
initially strength increases with increase in resin dosage, but,
after reaching the peak, the same either decreases or remains
unchanged with further increase in the resin content. Most
of the researchers have reported maximum strength for resin
dosage in the range of 1216% by weight of polymer concrete.
Addition of various types of fibers like glass fibers,
steel fibers, and carbon fibers in polymer concrete enhances
its mechanical properties such as toughness, compressive
strength, flexural strength, and fatigue strength. The usual
range of fiber addition in polymer concrete is up to 6%
by weight of polymer concrete. It was observed that silane
treatment of fibers before addition into polymer concrete
further enhances its mechanical properties. Addition of
microfillers like fly ash, silica fume, calcium carbonate, and
so forth in polymer concrete has been reported not only to
enhance the mechanical properties but also to improve the
workability of mix. Enhancement in compressive strength up
to 30% has been reported with addition of 15% fly ash in
polymer concrete.
Various types of aggregate materials have been used by
the researchers, most of them based upon the choice of
locally available materials to reduce the cost. The use of
river sand, foundry sand, crushed stone, quartz, granite,
and gravel has been reported. Till date no standard mix
proportion and aggregate grading criterion are available for
polymer concrete and, therefore, a number of optimized mix
proportions are reported in the literature. These mixes are
based upon various optimization criteria like Fullers curve,
and maximum bulk density, and minimum void content and
have been developed for various types of locally available
aggregates. Almost all the studies are in agreement that use of
gap graded aggregate results in better mechanical properties.
A few empirical relations are provided in the literature
to determine the proportion of coarse and fine aggregates
for obtaining least void content, but their application in
various other aggregate types is still to be evaluated. It is
recommended that aggregate mix having maximum bulk
density and having least void content shall be used along with
optimum polymer content for achieving maximum strength.
Moisture content in the aggregate has a deleterious effect on

Journal of Composites
Table 2: Summary of mechanical properties of polymer concrete.

Author

Okada et al.
[35]

Kobayashi
and Ito [34]

Mani et al.
[24]

Vipulanandan
and
Dharmarajan
[25]

Vipulanandan
et al. [39]

Resin

Polyester

Polyester

Epoxy,
polyester

Polyester

Epoxy,
polyester

Vipulanandan (i) Epoxy,

and Paul [62] (ii) polyester

Aggregate and
Variables
Properties evaluated
microfiller used
Compressive strength, flexural strength, and so forth
Resin content, 1015%;
Crushed stone, river
filler content, 1015%; Compressive strength,
sand, and calcium
tensile strength
temperature of test, 5 to
carbonate
60

Crushed stone, fine

sand

Crushed quartzite,
siliceous sand, and
calcium carbonate

Silane treatment, resin

content, 9 to 13%

Resin type, silane

treatment, and
microfiller addition

Brief findings

Compressive strength and tensile

strength decrease with
temperature.

(i) Resin content does not have

much effect on compressive
strength.
(ii) Temperature rise was
observed for frequency range of
Compressive strength, 200400 Hz.
compressive fatigue (iii) Addition of 1% silane agent
increases the load for
withstanding 2 million cycles
from 59% to 64% of ultimate
strength.
(i) Epoxy concrete has much
superior properties than the
polyester concrete.
(ii) Compressive strength goes
up by 30% for the polyester
Compressive strength, concrete and 36% for the epoxy
flexural strength, and concrete by incorporation of a
split tensile strength silane coupling agent.
(iii) The compressive and flexural
strengths of the polyester
concrete are greatly improved on
incorporation of the microfiller.

Ottawa sand

(i) Maximum flexural and

compression modulus are
observed between 14 and 16%
resin content by weight.
Temperature, strain
rate, void content,
Compressive strength, (ii) Strain rate was found to have
very limited effect on the flexural
method of preparation,
flexural strength
behaviour.
and resin content
(iii) Compaction moulding was
found to have better results than
vibration moulding.

Ottawa sand, blasting

sand

(i) Maximum compressive and

flexural strength were reported at
14% resin content.
Resin content, silane Compressive strength, (ii) Addition of glass fibers
treatment, compaction, flexural strength, and increases the flexural strength,
and glass fiber content split tensile strength compressive strength.
(iii) Silane treatment increases
the flexural strength by 25%.

Ottawa sand, blasting

sand

Temperature, strain
rate, aggregate type,
and curing conditions

(i) Compressive strength

increases with curing
temperature.
(ii) Maximum strength was
Compressive strength, obtained for one-day room
split tensile strength temperature curing followed by
one-day curing at 80 C.
(iii) Use of gap graded aggregate
resulted in highest compressive
strength.

Journal of Composites

Table 2: Continued.
Author

Vipulanandan
and Paul [63]

Resin

Polyester

Aggregate and
microfiller used

Ottawa sand

Varughese
and
Chaturvedi
[37]

Polyester

Granite aggregate
confirming to ASTM
mesh No-550, river
sand, and fly ash

Maksimov
et al. [36]

Polyester

58% crushed granite,

21.8% sand, and 10.4%
calcium carbonate

Abdel-Fattah
and
El-Hawary
[26]

Ferreira [27]

Ribeiro et al.
[29]

Epoxy,
polyester

56% coarse aggregate

and 36% fine
aggregate

Polyester

Clean sand, foundry

sand, and CaCO3

Epoxy,
polyester

Clean sand, foundry

sand, and CaCO3

Variables

Curing conditions,
silane treatment, and
rate of loading

Fly ash and river sand

contents have been
varied in full range of
0100% of fine
aggregate to study the
replacement of river
sand with fly ash

Properties evaluated

Brief findings

Compressive
strength, tensile
strength, and stress
strain relationship

(i) Maximum compressive

strength was obtained for a resin
content of 15%.
(ii) 1-day room temperature
curing followed by 1-day curing
at 80 C increased the
compressive strength by around
50% as compared to 2-day curing
at room temperature.
(iii) Compressive strength and
modulus increase with increase
in strain rate.
(iv) Silane treatment of aggregate
increases the compressive
strength by around 14%.

Flexural strength

(i) Fine aggregates in

combination with fly ash and
river sand show synergism in
strength behaviour and
resistance to water absorption up
to the level of 75% by weight of
fly ash.
(ii) At the higher level of fly ash,
properties decline as the mix
becomes unworkable due to the
fact that pure fly ash, because of
large surface area, does not mix
with resin binder effectively.

Compressive strength in the

Compressive strength, range of 90108 MPa has been
flexural strength
reported.

Resin content

Resin content,
microfiller content,
mixing method, and
type of sand

Resin content,
microfiller content,
type of sand, and
curing cycle (7 days at
23 C and 3 hrs at 80 C)

(i) Maximum compressive

strength was achieved at 12%
resin content for all types of
Compressive strength, resins.
flexural strength
(ii) Highest modulus of rupture
was also obtained at 12% resin
content, which was almost 3
times that of cement concrete.
(i) Best results were obtained for
20% resin content.
Three-point bend
(ii) Clean sand gives better
tests on specimens of properties with low resin content
40 40 160 mm
as foundry sand has high specific
surface.

Three-point bend
tests on specimens of
40 40 160 mm

(i) Curing cycle of 3 hrs at 80 C

gives almost the same results as 7
days at 23 C curing.
(ii) Epoxy resin gives better
properties with foundry sand as
aggregate, whereas polyester
gives better properties with clean
sand because of the higher
capacity of epoxy to wet the
aggregates.

Journal of Composites

Table 2: Continued.
Author

Rebeiz et al.
[41]

Barbuta and
Lepadatu [64]

Haidar et al.
[65]

Resin

Polyester

Aggregate and
microfiller used

Pea gravel as coarse

aggregate and sand as
fine aggregate, fly ash

Epoxy

River gravel of
04 mm size and
48 mm size, silica
fume (SUF)

Epoxy

Gravel of 24 mm,
gravel to sand ratio of
0.25 used for
optimum packing
density

Variables

Fly ash content

Properties evaluated

Brief findings

(i) Replacing 15% by weight of

sand with fly ash results in 30%
increase in compressive strength.
(ii) Caution should, however, be
exercised when using a relatively
Compressive strength high loading of fly ash, because
the high surface area of the
material would make the mix
become too sticky and thus
unworkable.

Resin content,
microfiller content

(i) Compressive strength varies

from 43.4 to 65.3 MPa and
Compressive strength, flexural strength varies from
flexural strength, and 12.29 to 17.5 MPa.
split tensile strength (ii) Resin content of 15.6% was
found suitable for almost all the
properties of polymer concrete.

Resin content, curing

conditions

(i) Maximum compressive

strength and flexural strength
were reported for a resin content
Compressive strength,
of 13%.
flexural strength
(ii) Maximum compressive and
flexural strength were obtained
after 3 days of curing.

Mix proportions

Ohama [30]

Polyester

Kim et al. [66] Epoxy resin

Rebeiz [31]

Polyester
resin from
PET waste

Andesite, river sand,

and calcium
carbonate

Sand > mesh no. 6

and pebble < mesh
no. 6

Pea gravel, river sand,

and fly ash

(i) The following optimum mix

proportion has been suggested:
11.25% resin,
11.25% calcium
carbonate,
29.1% andesite
Mix composition based
(520 mm),
upon maximum bulk
9.6% sand (1.25 mm),
Compressive strength
density, curing
38.8% sand (<1.2 mm).
conditions, and water
(ii) Compressive strength
content of aggregates
becomes constant after 7-days
curing at 20 C.
(iii) Strength reduces with
increases in water content of
aggregate; maximum water
content shall be limited to 0.1%.
An
optimum mix was reported
Compaction ratio, size Damping factor, and
as
having
50% pebble, 42.5%
of aggregates, and mix
modulus, and
composition
compressive strength sand, and 7.5% resin.

Curing time

(i) Authors proposed an

optimized mix based upon their
study as that containing 10%
resin, 45% pea gravel, 32% sand,
Compressive strength,
and 13% fly ash.
flexural strength
(ii) Polymer concrete achieves
80% of its strength after curing of
one day, when compared to
seven-day curing period.

Journal of Composites

9
Table 2: Continued.

Author

Resin

Aggregate and
microfiller used

Variables

Properties evaluated

Brief findings

Damping

Suh and Lee

[67]

Polyester
resin

Sand and gravel

Mix composition

Damping

Cortes and
Castillo [18]

Epoxy resin

Basalt, quartzite, up
to 10 mm size

Test Frequency

Damping, compared
with that of cast iron

Bignozzi et al.
[15]

Orak [19]

Polyester

Polyester

Silica sand, calcium

carbonate

Quartz,
0.5 mm8 mm

Use of recycled fillers,

that is, powdered
rubber, tyre rubber,
and so forth

Mix composition

the mechanical properties of polymer concrete and, therefore,

it is recommended that moisture content in aggregate shall
not exceed 0.5%.
Curing conditions play an important role in the final
properties of polymer concrete. For field use and ease of
operation, room temperature curing is desirable and advantageous. Fast curing is one of the biggest advantages of
the polymer concrete systems, with results showing almost
70% strength development after one day of curing at room
temperature. Normal Portland cement concrete, on the other
hand, usually achieves about 20% of its 28-day strength in
one day. This early strength development is very useful in
precast applications of polymer concrete. Although curing at
elevated temperatures is observed to accelerate the strength
development, it is almost universally accepted that 7-day
room temperature curing is optimum period for polymer
concrete.
In addition to the above parameters, adhesion at binder
aggregate interface also has an influence on the properties of
polymer concrete. Adhesion at the interface, in absence of
any chemical bonding, may be sufficiently good even when
it is due to secondary forces between two phases. Silane
coupling agents by providing chemical bonding between the
two phases considerably improve the interfacial adhesion
and therefore enhance the mechanical properties of these
materials. From the research available till date, it can be
concluded that integral blend method of adding the silane

(i) The polymer concrete bed had

large damping factors over wide
frequency range.
(ii) Damping factors found
experimentally were higher than
those for steel structure and cast
iron.
(i) Damping loss factor of
polymer concrete is 65% higher
than that of cast iron.
(ii) Polymer concrete maintains
its damping over a large
frequency range.

Damping, loss
modulus

(i) Addition of powdered rubber,

tyre rubber, and so forth
increases damping over wide
temperature.
(ii) Polymer concrete containing
organic fillers can be used for
making machine tool bases.

Damping factor

(i) Damping of polyester

concrete is four to seven times
higher than that of cast iron.
(ii) Damping characteristics were
not much influenced by mix
composition.

agent in the polymer concrete mix is easy to implement and

yields better mechanical properties. The compressive strength
and flexural strength of polymer concrete containing silane
coupling agents are 15 to 20% higher than those of normal
polymer concrete.
Polymer concrete displays higher compressive strength
and flexural strength when compared to Portland cement
concrete. Compressive strength ranging from 70 to 120 MPa
has been reported by various authors. The discussion in the
preceding paragraphs states the governing parameters for the
mechanical properties of any particular polymer concrete
system and thus explains the large variation in the properties
reported.
The study of fatigue behaviour of any material is of
immense importance if the same has to be utilised for structures, machine tool parts, and so forth, wherein the cyclic
loading is predominant. Unfortunately, fatigue behaviour of
polymer concrete has not been studied to a great extent and
there have been a few studies in this context and the same has
been reported in this paper.

4. Concluding Remarks
Research on characterization of mechanical properties of
polymer concrete has been carried out by number of
researchers and sufficient data has been generated regarding

10

Journal of Composites

the effect of various parameters like resin type and content,

fiber reinforcements, microfillers, curing conditions, aggregate type and grading, and silane coupling agents on the
properties of polymer concrete. Based on the critical review
of the available literature on polymer concrete, the following
conclusions can be drawn.

[5]

[6]

(1) Comparative studies between epoxy and polyester

resins report that epoxy polymer concrete has far
superior mechanical properties and durability.

[7]

(2) Various types of aggregate materials have been used

by the researchers most of them based upon the
choice of locally available materials to reduce the cost.

[8]

(3) The resin dosage reported by various authors mostly

lies in the range of 10 to 20% by weight of polymer
concrete. Higher resin dosage is recommended when
using fine aggregate.
(4) It has been reported that addition of glass fibers
improves the post peak behaviour of polymer concrete. The strength and toughness of polymer concrete
also increase with addition of fibers.
(5) Seven-day room temperature curing criterion has
found widespread usage by researchers in their
research work and has been almost universally
accepted.
(6) Enhancement in compressive strength up to 30% has
been reported for addition of 15% fly ash (microfiller)
in polymer concrete.

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

(7) It has been recommended that the moisture content

of the aggregate shall not exceed 0.5% for better
mechanical properties.

[14]

(8) It is recommended that aggregate mix having maximum bulk density and having least void content shall
be used along with optimum polymer content for
achieving maximum strength.

[15]

(9) Use of silane coupling agents further enhances the

mechanical properties of polymer concrete.
It is well known that polymer concrete exhibits far better
mechanical properties and durability than ordinary Portland
cement concrete. Polymer concrete has proven itself to be a
material which holds much promise due to its better mechanical properties and durability. It would be in the interest
of polymer concrete industry/researchers if the material is
categorised and promoted as a polymer composite.

[16]

[17]

[18]

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