Advances in Control, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering

Influence of Polymers on Concrete Damping Properties

S.F. Nabavi

ABSTRACT: This paper presents an experimental investigation to enhance damping properties of concrete by
using polymeric admixtures. The imperfections of conventional concrete such as low tensile strength, low
ductility, and low damping have to be modified and improved. Specifically, polypropylene fibers and styrene
butadiene rubber (latex) were selected to use in concrete mix to achieve high damped concrete. Four different
categories of laboratory concrete specimens including plain concrete (PC), fiber reinforced concrete (FRC),
polymer modified concrete (PMC), and using fibers in polymer modified concrete (FRPMC) were cast and
tested to determine the damping ratio of these concrete categories. Experiments depicted that polymer-
concrete composites can absorb the dynamic load energy much faster than conventional concrete. Using these
composites in concrete structures increases the position stability of structures subjected to dynamic forces like
earthquakes and strong wind due to high damping properties of concrete.
Keywords--- Damping, Fibre Reinforced Concrete, Polymer (latex) Modified Concrete, Vibration

1 INTRODUCTION Polymer modified concrete is made by adding to

the fresh concrete either a polymer in the form of as
Concrete is one the oldest and most worldwide pop- aqueous solution or a monomer which is polyme-
ular structure material due to its relative low cost, rized in situ. Latex, acrylics, and vinyl acetates are
fire resistance, easy fabrication, and aesthetic pleas- typical materials which are used in cement-based
ing. However, plain concrete is brittle and weak in composites. Compare to conventional concrete, the
tension and therefore needs to be combined with major merits of polymer modified concrete are its
steel reinforcement in the tension zone. improved durability and better adhesion characteris-
Plain concrete exhibits low damping compare to tics. Many polymers (particularly those characte-
other building materials and many engineering ap- rized as “viscoelastic”) are known to possess desira-
plications would be enhanced if the concrete tech- ble damping properties [3].
nologist could design concrete mixtures with in-
creased damping [1]. Concrete with vibration
damping ability is needed for vibration reduction 2 DAMPING MECHANISMS
and hazard mitigation of bridges, buildings and other
civil infrastructure systems. However, the dynamic Damping is a process by which vibratory energy is
mechanical properties of concrete have received dissipated as disordered thermal energy to its sur-
much less attention than the static mechanical prop- roundings as an irreversible process. Damping is
erties. The vibration can come from many sources present in all real materials and structures, and can
both within interior and exterior to the structure. The be quantified as a material property. Structural engi-
most significant interior sources are the plant’s me- neers commonly quantify damping with the “damp-
chanical systems, personnel activities, and some- ing ratio”, expressed as a percentage. In damping,
times the tools themselves. Exterior sources include the energy of the vibrating system is dissipated by
nearby traffic, rail lines, construction, mechanical various mechanisms, and often more than one me-
equipment in neighboring buildings, wind and most chanism may be present at the same time. In actual
significant of all; earthquakes [2]. structures, most of the energy dissipation presuma-
To overcome these problems and imperfections bly arises from the thermal effect of repeated elastic
of concrete, the cement-based should be modified to straining of the material and from the internal fric-
improve particular properties. One of these ways is tion when a solid is deformed [4].
use of polymer-concrete composites. Damping of a structure can be attained by inside
(passive) or outside (active) methods. The inside
Seyed Farhad Nabavi, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Austral- methods make use of inherent ability of materials to
ia (phone: 0061 2 95142377; fax: 0061 2 95141200; SeyedFar- absorb or dissipate the vibration energy. The outside
[Link]@[Link]) methods need to set up some additional devices
(such as dampers and actuators) to suppress the vi-
bration. The method of additional devices is able to
ISBN: 978-960-474-251-6 28
 Advances in Control, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering
effectively suppress the vibration of structures, but is probably the result of its precipitation from the so-
inevitably increases the cost of structures, make lution in the space around the surface. Intensive mix-
structural design and construct inconvenient, and af- ing can result in densification of the interfacial tran-
fects normal function of the structures (such as sition zone, by reducing bleeding and forcing a
available space of buildings). In addition, the damp- better packing of the cement particle at the fiber sur-
ing installations need maintenance and rehabilitates face. When the composite undergoes vibration
in long period. Thus, enhancing the structural ma- damping, additional mechanisms, known as extrinsic
terial damping will be more effective way especially mechanisms should be considered. In FRC compo-
in long term period [5]. It means that increase the sites, the major role played by the fibers occurs in
damping property of reinforced structure significant- the post-cracking zone, in which the fibers bridge
ly without appending any control of damping instal- across the cracked matrix. They increase the tough-
lations. ness of the composite by providing energy absorp-
tion mechanisms, related to the debonding and pull-
out process of the fibers bridging the cracks. In the
2.1 Damping Mechanism in Fiber Reinforced other word, the impact energy will be consumed for
Concrete (FRC) debonding and pull-out processes of the fibers re-
Synthetic (polymer) fibers are increasingly being sulted in dissipating of energy [7].
used for the reinforcement of cementitious materials.
Some fibers, such as polypropylene, are used very
2.2 Damping Mechanism in Polymer Modified
extensively, and many fibers are available that have
Concrete
been formulated and produced specifically for rein-
forcement of mortars and concretes. Any form of cement-compatible latex has a some-
If two or more materials are combined together to what symbiotic relationship with the traditional con-
form a composite, the properties of the composite crete components of cement and aggregate. For soli-
are governed not only by the properties of individual dification of latex, it must be suspended in water,
components but also by the interface between them. and then give up that water. As the proportion of wa-
The properties of fiber reinforced cementitious ma- ter in the latex drops below a critical fraction, the
terials are dependent on the structure of composite. polymer particles suspended in the water begin to
Therefore, in order to analyze these composites, and coalesce into a solid. On the other hand, cement re-
to predict their performance in various loading con- quires water in order to carry out the hydration
ditions, their internal structure must be characte- process. When a liquid latex suspension and cement
rized. are placed together, the water in the latex is taken up
One unique characteristic of a composite is its by the cement in hydration, and the two materials
large internal interfacial area. Thus, in analyzing the each tend to form solids in an interlacing skeleton
damping of a composite, it is important to consider [8].
not only the individual component materials but also It is known that polymers behave with both elas-
the energy dissipation caused by interface. There- tic and viscous (viscoelastic) characteristics. This
fore, the damping analysis of a composite generally means their properties are intermediate between that
requires recognition of the individual components in of a crystalline solid and a simple liquid. By chang-
the composite and a determination of their contribu- ing the monomeric units, the molecular weight, de-
tions to the total composite [6]. gree of branching and cross-linking, the main chain
Thus, extrinsic damping mechanisms in a compo- stereo configuration of monomers, and other features
site are mainly related to the reinforcement-matrix of the molecular chemistry, the desired mechanical
interfaces. For a poorly bonded interface, the damp- properties can be obtained. High damping has been
ing can be caused by a sliding friction mechanism known as an important property of polymers which
(coulomb friction). On the other hand, if an interface is dependent on frequency and temperature.
is well-boned, it could also lead to increased damp- The micro-mechanisms of damping in polymers
ing via an increased dislocation density near the fi- based on microstructure and phenomenology can be
ber-matrix interface. described and classified them into three basic cate-
This component is discussed for monofilament gories including secondary transition, glass transi-
fibers which have used in this project. The micro- tion, and melting and flow.
structure of the transition zone around monofilament It is well known that at temperatures near abso-
fibers has been studied in fiber reinforced pastes. It lute zero, the main source of motion in polymers is
was observed that the transition zone in the mature provided by the bending and stretching of primary
composite in rich CH, and is also porous, making it valence bonds. When temperatures increase, but still
different from the microstructure of the bulk paste. below the glass transition temperature at which the
The CH layer can be as thin as 1μm (duplex film), or polymer undergoes the transformation from a rubber
it can be much more massive, several μm across. to a glass, side groups can move and will cause dy-
The formation of a CH rich zone at the fiber surface namic dispersions.
ISBN: 978-960-474-251-6 29
 Advances in Control, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering
There is particularly strong damping at the glass of concrete and fixing the proportion of raw mate-
transition temperature. This critical temperature is rials for them, casting of specimens for dynamic
governed by the main chain in the amorphous phase tests were taken place. 24 hours after placing the
of the polymer. The length of the chain segment is concrete in the moulds, they were demoulded and
small compared that of macromolecule but is larger kept in the moisture curing system for 28 days. But,
than the monomer group. Segment motion involves for polymer (latex)-cement base composites to com-
the coiling and uncoiling of the macromolecular plete the polymerization process, dry curing is man-
chain. It has been found that significant damping oc- datory. The specimens cured 24 hours more in the
curs at glass transition temperature when the applied air to form a continuous and coherent polymer film
test frequency equals the natural frequency for main which coats the cement hydration products, aggre-
chain rotation. If frequencies are higher, the time for gate particles and even the capillary pores.
chain uncoiling is insufficient, and the polymer will
appear to be relative stiff. When frequencies are
lower, the time for chain movement is larger and the 3.1.2 Dynamic Tests specimens
material will be soft and rubbery. Between the glass For these sorts of tests, the frame specimens
transition temperature and the crystalline melting were cast and tested. The sizes of beam and column
temperature, the damping response of polymers is as the frame components were as follows:
insensitive to temperature. The high-temperature Column: 100 x 100 x 500 mm
limit of this elastomeric region of response is deter- Beam: 100 x 150 x 600 mm
mined by the melting and flow properties of the ma- For reinforcement, 10mm diameter deformed
cromolecule. If the macromolecule is incorporated steel bars were used.
into a three-dimensional cross-linked network, the
higher temperature limits of elastomeric response
3.2 Materials
are restricted only by the thermal and environmental
stability of the chemical valence bonds [9]. General raw materials were crushed coarse aggre-
As a conclusion, in the transition from low tem- gates (crushed value 26%) with 2.67t/m3 specific
perature to high temperature, the chains rub against gravity and natural sand with 2.62t/m3 specific grav-
each other when the material deforms, and that rub- ity. The maximum size of aggregate was 20 mm.
bing dissipates energy as friction. That dissipation Consumed cement was Portland type (I) for general
leads to high damping. purpose.
Polypropylene fibers technical properties are as
follows:
3 EXPERIMENTAL PHASE
Natural white appearance, 0.91gr/cm³ specific gravi-
In this investigation, four different following catego- ty, diameter 23 microns, tensile strength: 400MPa,
ries of concrete were selected to cast specimens. low thermal conductivity, low electrical conductivi-
Plain (conventional) concrete (PC), fiber reinforced ty, incorrodible, high salt, acids and alkaline resis-
concrete (FRC), polymer modified concrete (PMC), tance
and using fibers in polymer modified concrete Latex (Styrene-Butadiene Rubber/SBR) Technic-
(FRPMC).This phase of study is divided to four al properties:
parts of procedures, materials, equipment, and data Milky white colour, Liquid form, pH: 9
collections.

3.3 Equipment and Software

3.1 Experimental Procedure
Equipment for compressive strength tests were in-
To gain the certain compressive strength (40MPa) in cluding:
all categories of concrete was the first attempt in this Electrical mixer with 100 liter capacity, external
investigation because through this test the proportion vibrator (table vibrator), hydraulic jack with 250
of different materials in the concrete mixes were tone capacity for compressive strength tests
identified and fixed. Second sort of tests were dynamic tests which can
be divided to two parts as follows:
3.1.1 Compressive strength test specimens Free Vibration tests to achieve damping proper-
ties and shake-table tests for finding the displace-
Standard cylindrical specimens were tested for ment of frame exposed to dynamic loading.
compressive strength after 28 days. British Standard Impact hammer with head weight 150gr, piezoe-
was used to design of concrete mix. To obtain the lectric sensors, digital multi-meter and software:
target compressive strength for PMC, different pro- Vee-Pro for attaining the time-history graphs,
portions of latex and anti-foam agent had to be tried. MATLAB Programming for converting the time-
After obtaining the certain strength for all categories
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 Advances in Control, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering
amplitude graph to frequency-FFT (voltage) graph, lected with considering on impact. Time-amplitude
earthquake simulator (shake-table) tests to determine matrix was converted to Frequency-FFT (voltage)
the magnitude of displacement of the frame speci- matrix by using MATLAB Programming and
mens subjected to different frequencies of shake- 𝑎𝑎 = 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎�𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓(𝑎𝑎)� order. After obtaining this matrix
table. and drawing the relevant graph, maximum
Earthquake simulator (MTS System Corporation) cy(𝑓𝑓𝑚𝑚 ) could be found. After finding the maximum
with following technical specifications: force: 35 frequency, by using the following formulae damping
kN, static stroke: 203 mm, dynamic stroke: 152 mm, ratio was calculated:
maximum operation pressure: 276.8 bar, operating
temperature: -29 to 86ºC, vibration analyzer, accele- 𝜉𝜉 = (𝑓𝑓1 − 𝑓𝑓2 )⁄(2 × 𝑓𝑓𝑚𝑚 ) (1)
rometer, LAB VIEW software to save the data and
draw the graphs. Where 𝜉𝜉: 𝐷𝐷 𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷 𝑅𝑅 𝑅𝑅,

𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷
𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅
𝑓𝑓𝑚𝑚 : 𝑀𝑀 𝑀𝑀 𝑀𝑀 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 𝐹𝐹 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹

𝑀𝑀
𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀
𝑀𝑀
𝐹𝐹
𝐹𝐹
𝑓𝑓1 , 𝑓𝑓2 : 𝑀𝑀 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 𝐹𝐹 𝐹𝐹 𝐹𝐹 , 𝑒𝑒 𝑒𝑒 𝑤𝑤 ℎ 0.75 𝑓𝑓𝑚𝑚
3.4 Tests and Data collection

𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀
𝐹𝐹
𝐹𝐹
𝐹𝐹
𝐹𝐹
𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒
𝑒𝑒
𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒
𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤
3.4.2 Shake-table Test
3.4.1 Impact Hammer Test (free vibration case)
After fixing the frame on the shake-table, two ac-
This experiment was accomplished to determine celerometers were installed on the frame at the same
damping ratio with following method: direction of movement and were connected to an
Impact load: each frame was excited by an impact analyzer followed by a lap top for recording of data
hammer to vibrate freely. Five piezoelectric were as- related to acceleration and displacement (Fig. 2). A
sembled on each frame connecting to multi-meter thousand data was recorded in a particular file per
followed by a computer (Fig. 1). second automatically. LABVIEW software was used
to draw the graph of frame displacement. Since
damping in viscoelastic materials is dependent to
frequency and temperature, the amplitude of the
shake-table movement was constant whereas the
frequency was variable. The temperature for all spe-
cimens during the tests was 25ºC ±1ºC.

Figure 1. Piezoelectric sensors installed on the frame

For each piezoelectric, frame was impacted two

times. The impact force was converted to electrical
current by piezoelectric sensors which can be meas- Figure 2. Shake-table test set up
ured by multimeter. This current was changed to a
series of output which transferred to a computer and
data were collected by using Vee-Pro software and 4 RESULTS AND DISCASSIONS
were converted to a matrix. In each excitation of
frame 10,000 data were recorded as a matrix with The results of all tests have been presented in the
time and amplitude components.10 readings for each following tables. All of the results are the mean val-
piezoelectric were obtained (100,000 data for each ues of each type of tests.
frame) to achieve as accurate as data. Each 10,000
data related to one excitation were converted to time 4.1 Mix Design
– amplitude (time history) graph. By time-history
graph, 1000 data out of 10,000 data, for achieving to Mix design was carried out according the British
frequency respond function graph (FRF) were se- Standard. In this study different mix designs were

ISBN: 978-960-474-251-6 31
 Advances in Control, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering
tested (especially for PMC) to achieve the target Table 4. Damping properties of different concrete
compressive strength. Concrete Type 𝒇𝒇′𝒄𝒄 ξ d Ψ η
PC and FRC had the same mix design which has (MPa) (%)
been included in Table 1 and PMC and FRPMC had PC 40.7 4.3 0.24 0.47 0.07
the same mix design which has been depicted in Ta- FRC 42.2 8.3 0.52 1.04 0.17
ble 2. For polymer modified concrete water/cement PMC 37.2 12 0.73 1.45 0.23
ratio was a high critical factor to gain the required FRPMC 38.5 21 1.25 2.49 0.40
compressive strength. As a result from experiments,
for achieving to more than 35MPa compressive For each category of concrete one selected fre-
strength for PMC with latex, w/c ratio should not be quency domain graph as a sample is presented in
more than 0.35. Figures 3-6.
Table 1. Mix design for PC and FRC
Item Unit Quantity
Water kg/m³ 135
Cement kg/m³ 450
Sand kg/m³ 726
20mm Aggregate kg/m³ 816
10mm Aggregate kg/m³ 273
Polypropylene Fiber kg/m³ 2
Superplasticizer kg/m³ 9

Table 2. Mix Design for PMC and FRPMC

Item Unit Quantity
Water kg/m³ 112.5
Cement kg/m³ 450
Sand kg/m³ 726 Figure 3. FRF graph for PC
20mm Aggregate kg/m³ 816
10mm Aggregate kg/m³ 273
PP Fiber kg/m³ 2
Superplasticizer kg/m³ 9
Latex kg/m³ 22.5

The common specifications for all types of con-

crete water cement ratio (w/c): 0.3, slump: 80-100
mm, wet specific gravity of concrete: 2400 kg/m3

4.2 Compressive Strength Tests

The average of compressive tests results have been
summarized in Table 3.
Figure 4. FRF graph for FRC
Table 3. Summary of compressive strength tests results
Concrete Type Compressive Strength
(MPa)
PC 40.3
FRC 42.1
PMC 39.3
FRPMC 40.5

4.3 Impact Hammer Tests

Damping properties resulted from impact hammer
tests have been summarized in Table.4.

Figure 5. FRF graph for PMC

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 Advances in Control, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering
10mm amplitude is 8.67mm while this displace-
ment for the fiber reinforced polymer modified con-
crete is only 4.56mm. Finally, polymers in concrete
mixtures act as passive dampers and have following
merits compared to active dampers:
no need to specialist persons to set up, no need to
special mechanical or electrical devices and equip-
ment, no further maintenance and repair cost, archi-
tectural aesthetics regarding to have more flexibility
and options for design of openings forms and loca-
tions.
As the summary results in Table 4 and Table 5
indicate, polymeric composite materials affect
Figure 6. FRF graph for FRPMC damping properties of concrete effectively.

4.4 Shake-table tests results REFERENCES

The result of shake-table shows the displacement of
[1] H. Amik, G. Colin, 2004,” Damping Properties of Polymer
frame subjected to three different frequencies of Modified concrete,” Proc. 75th Shock and Vibration Sympo-
shake-table. The results have been depicted in Table sium, Virginia Beach, VA.
5. [2] W.G. Wong, P. Fang, J.K Pan, 2003, “Polymer effects on
the Vibration Damping Behavior of Cement,” Journal of
Table 5. Shake-table results Materials in Civil Engineering.
Frequency (Hz)► 5 10 15 [3] X. Fu, X. Li, D.D.L. Chung, 1998, “Improving the Vibra-
tion Damping Capacity of Cement” Journal of Materials
Concrete Accelerometer Displac- Displac- Displac- Science, University of Buffalo.
type Location ▼ ement ement ement [4] H. Amik, G. Colin, 2003,”Can Vibration be controlled
▼ (mm) (mm) (mm) with damped concrete?”, San Bruno, CA, USA.
Top 6.44 8.45 8.67 [5] P. Liu, Z. Wan, Y. Qian, 2006, ”Seismic Performance of
PC High Damping Concrete Structure,” 4th International Con-
Middle 6.29 7.34 8.72
ference on Earthquake Engineering, Taiwan.
Top 6.17 7.18 8.04
FRC [6] D.D.L. Chung, 2003, “Structural composite materials tai-
Middle 6.15 7.10 7.14 lored for damping,” Journal of Alloys and Compounds,
Top 6.07 6.55 7.24 University of Buffalo and State University of New York.
PMC
Middle 5.57 6.02 6.27 [7] A. Bentur, S. Mindess, 2007,”Fiber Reinforced Cementi-
Top 4.26 4.38 4.56 tious Composites,” London, Taylor & Francis.
FRPMC [8] L. Hollaway, 1993,“Polymer Composites for Civil and
Middle 4.04 4.29 4.41
Structural Engineering,” Glasgow, Blackie Academic and
Professional.
[9] A.D. Nashif, D.I.G. Jones, J.P. Henderson, 1985, “Vibra-
5 CONCLUSIONS tion Damping,” New York, John Wiley and Sons.

Conventional reinforced concrete with about 4%

damping ratio showed the lowest level of damping
whereas using polymeric admixtures improved the
damping ratio and increased it up to 21%. There-
fore, by using appropriate polymers as admixtures in
concrete, the loss factor will be increased resulting
in augmentation of the vibration dissipation by con-
crete. In the other hand, composite materials are able
to dissipate the vibration energy much faster than
conventional concrete resulting much less structural
displacement which concludes much more structural
stability, position control and performance.
Comparison between the displacement of frame
made of plain concrete and the other categories of
concrete subjected to dynamic load from Table 5
proves that polymer-concrete composites have much
less displacement than conventional concrete. For
example, the mean displacement of plain concrete
frame at the top subjected to 15Hz frequency and
ISBN: 978-960-474-251-6 33

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