AbstractMortars were cured for a sufficient period to give sufficient strength and were then dried to remove the free water without dehydrating the compounds formed. Dried specimens were evacuated and impregnated with a mixture of styrene and acrylonitrile monomers which gives high mechanical properties after polymerization. Positive pressure was then applied, and polymerization was done radiolytically. The effect of degree and period of evacuation, the positive pressure and the irradiation dose on monomer loading, tensile and compressive strength were studied, and the optimum operating conditions were established. The achieved strength was correlated with the fraction of open pores impregnated. The composites investigated have the same volume fraction of mortar, and the polymer is added at the expense of the open porosity causing nearly an exponential increase in strength. Only 80 of the open pores were filled with polymers due to the difference in density between the polymer and the monomer, loss of monomer, and the presence of entrapped gas consisting of residual air and residual water vapor and monomer vapor, as well as due to the inability to fill all the micropores with monomer. A compressive strength four times that of plain mortar and a tensile strength eight times that of plain mortar were achieved.
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