Synthesis and Application of cPSMA-PSMA Microcapsule Absorbent for Cement Mortars

We synthesized microcapsule absorbent with crosslinked poly(styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) (PSMA) as a core and PSMA as a shell by a precipitation polymerization method for the delayed absorption of excess water in cement mortar. cPSMA-PSMAs with core-shell structure were synthesized with ratios of 1/1, 1/2 and 1/3 as core monomer mass to shell monomer mass to control shell thickness. We observed the hydrolysis of PSMA in cement-saturated aqueous solution by a FTIR spectrometer. We observed good core-shell structure microcapsules for 1/2(cPSMA #3), but observed incomplete core-shell structure for 1/1(cPSMA #2) and 1/3(cPSMA #4) of core/shell monomer ratios. The swelling ratio of cPSMA #3 in cement-saturated aqueous solution was increased until 20 min. After that it was decreased until 2 hrs swelling time, and they started to increase again. The viscosities of cement paste with cPSMA #3 microcapsules were very slowly increased until 1 hr and increased fast after 1.5 hrs. Cement mortar with 0.5 wt% cPSMA #1 having only core part showed about 5% increase in compressive strength compared to that of plain cement mortar. cPSMA #3 added cement mortar showed the highest compressive strength with 7% increase.