INFLUENCE OF REDISPERSIBLE POLYMER POWDERS ON DAMAGE MECHANISMS OF ETICS RENDER MORTARS

Author(s): Valdès, L., Aulagnier, M., Prat, E. and Chaouche, M.
Paper category: Conference
Book title: XIII International Conference on Durability of Building Materials and Components - XIII DBMC
Editor(s): Marco Quattrone, Vanderley M. John
Print ISBN: none
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-149-0
Publication year: 2015
Pages: 1057-1064
Total Pages: 8
Language: English

Abstract: We consider the impact of redispersible polymer powders (RPP) on the mechanical behavior of mortars used as finishing and decorative coats in ETICS systems. Disk-like mortar samples were submitted to indirect tensile strains through the splitting test (Brazilian test), and the damage state corresponding to various levels of strain was analyzed using two different techniques. A home-developed image analysis technique (Correli-Q4) was used to characterize the deformation field and the crack network percolating at the sample surface, while ex-situ 3D X-ray computed microtomography (-CT) was used to characterize the crack network in volume. As expected, addition of RPP significantly increased the deformability of the material. On the other hand, the evolution of the peak splitting force versus RPP content was found to be non-monotonic, displaying a minimum value. The -CT analysis showed that the high deformability of the material containing RPP is not due to eventual micro cracking, at least within the spatial resolution of the -CT considered. -CT results also highlighted the high heterogeneity of the main splitting fracture along the sample axis.

Online publication: 2015
Publication Type: full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00