Preparation and Characterization of Acrylic Primer for Concrete Substrate Application

Abstract

This study dealt with the properties of acrylic primer for concrete substrate using acrylic syrup, made from a methyl methacrylate monomer solution of terpolymers. Terpolymer systems consisting of methyl methacrylate (MMA), 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA), and methacrylic acid (MAA) with different chemical composition ratios of MMA and 2-EHA were synthesized through bulk polymerization using azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator. The terpolymer composition is characterized by FTIR, 1H NMR, DSC, TGA, and SEM. The glass transition temperature and the thermal stability increased with increasing amounts of MMA in the terpolymer backbone. The effect of chemical composition of terpolymers on physicomechanical properties of primer films was investigated. However, increasing the amount of MMA in terpolymer backbone increased tensile and contact angle of primer films while elongation at break, water absorption, and bond strength are decreased. In particular, the primer syrup containing 65% 2-EHA has good bonding strength with concrete substrate around 1.1 MPa.