• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.888-893
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to make clear the durability of the polymer films formed in the autoclaved polymer-modified mortars and concretes. The polymer films prepared with polymer dispersions such as a styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) latex, a poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate)(EVA) emulsion and a polyacrylic ester (PAE) emulsion for polymeric admixtures are exposed to autoclaving at 18$0^{\circ}C$ in temperature and 1.01 MPa in vapor pressure, and subjected to tensile test and infrared spectroscopy. The durability of the polymer films is evaluated from the application of autoclaving to the polymer films under saturated Ca(OH)$_2$ solution immersion causes no degradation for SBR films and a significant degradation due to the saponification of the polymers for EVA and PAE films. Accordingly, in the application of autoclaving to polymer-modified mortars and concretes, it is suggested that SBR-modified mortars and concretes are hardly degraded but EVA- and PAE-modified mortars and concretes are markedly degraded by the saponification of the polymers.