Investigation on Mechanical Perfor -mance and Durability of Polymer Concrete Composed of Polyester Resin

Polymer concrete is kind of concrete which in its mix design cement binder is replaced with polymeric resins. Application of polymer concretes was developed due to variety and quality. Nowadays، the application of these materials is limited due to high costs in comparison with Portland cement concrete. In this work، mechanical performance (compressive and flexural strengths and abrasion resistance) and depth of water penetration of a polymer concrete made of an unsaturated orthophtalic polyester resin was investigated and results was compared to Portland cement concrete (with water to cement ratio of 0. 4). Furthermore، durability of these samples in concentrated sulfuric acid was studied for 10 months. Results showed that mechanical strengths of polymer concrete are three times and two times of normal concrete''s one at early ages and at long term curing time، respectively. Severe degradation was occurred in normal concrete specimens in sulfuric acid solution after three months of exposure while 10 and 20% decrease in mechanical performance (without apparent defects) of polymer concretes was observed after 3 and 10 months exposure to sulfuric acid.