Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 2948–2954

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

The influence of moisture on the deformability of cement–polymer adhesive mortar

Flávio L. Maranhão a,b,⇑, Kai Loh b, Vanderley M. John b
a
São Judas Tadeu University, R. Taquari, 546, Mooca, São Paulo/SP, CEP 03166-000, Brazil
b
Department of Construction Engineering, Polytechnic School, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Almeida Prado, trav. 2, n. 83, Edif. de Eng. Civil – Cid. Universitária,
São Paulo 05508-900, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Adhesive mortars are widely used to set porcelain stoneware tiles on buildings because their bond
Received 5 June 2009 strength and flexibility properties increase the cladding serviceability. However, their long-term perfor-
Received in revised form 2 December 2010 mance is not well understood, mainly the degradation of the polymeric matrix.
Accepted 7 December 2010
The influence of moisture content on the flexibility of six adhesive mortars is investigated, based on
Available online 22 January 2011
standard EN 12002. Four of them have defined formulations and the other two are commercial and are
widely used to set porcelain stoneware tiles on building façades in Brazil.
Keywords:
The results show that moisture content above 6% is sufficient to reduce 50% of the mortar deformabi-
Tiling
Adhesive mortar
lity, but that the drying process allows it to recover to a value similar to that prior to saturation; a log-
Moisture arithmic function best fits the correlation between moisture content and flexibility; water immersion
Deformability increases matrix rigidity.
It is suggested that standards should consider flexibility tests on both dried and wet samples as a
requirement for polymer-modified mortars.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction mechanical properties, bond strength, flexibility, and hydrophobic

An external tiled wall is a complex multi-layer system, each
layer displaying different properties and with rigid bonds between
them. Stress is caused mainly by environmental agents such as
rain, sun, wind and others on the system as a whole, and thus
the system reacts in its entirety. To achieve good system perfor-
mance, loads and material properties must be analyzed during
the adherent ceramic tiling system design process [1].
In high-rise building façades, this factor is even more relevant
owing to the larger dimensions of the claddings, the slenderness
rates practiced in structures [2], the fatigue phenomena [3], the
inadequacy of the preventive maintenance activities [4] and the
lack of regulatory technical standards.
This results in high levels of stress, which affect the finishing
performance, sometimes resulting in pathological problems such
as staining, cracking and detachment in countries such as Brazil
[5], Portugal [3], Singapore [6] and Israel [7].
In attempts to reduce these stresses, polymer-modified mortars
have been used to set ceramic tiles, mainly because they have low-
er rigidity when compared to conventional mortars [8]. Moreover,
these materials usually improve workability, water retention,
⇑ Corresponding author at: São Judas Tadeu University, R. Taquari, 546, Mooca,
São Paulo/SP, CEP 03166-000, Brazil. Tel.: +55 1183038002; fax: +55 1130915544.
E-mail address: prof.flaviomaranhao@usjt.br (F.L. Maranhão).
properties.
The assessment of these polymers in reducing stiffness and con-
ferring flexibility on adhesive mortars has been the focus of several
scientific investigations [9–12]. In general, it can be concluded that
the greater the polymer–cement ratio, the less stiff and more flex-
ible will be the adhesive mortar. In addition, polymer performance
is strongly influenced by the polymer glass transition temperature
(Tg) and by the emulsifier used to produce the commercial poly-
mer [13]. Generally, the lower the Tg, the lower the Young’s Mod-
ulus of the mortar.
For many polymer types, water constitutes an important
degrading agent [14,15]. According to Fritze [12] and Lutz and
Hahner [8], the polymer-modified mortar flexibility in saturated
mortar, could give reductions of over 50% of its original value. Bond
strength is also strongly influenced by water; the European stan-
dard EN 1348 specifies evaluation after immersion in water for
21 days.
Thus, water tightness in external ceramic finishes throughout
their service life, as well as being an important issue per se, has
great potential for changing the adhesive mortar properties.
Investigating the action of water on polymer-modified mortars,
Jenni et al. [16] classified the effects into two categories: (i) revers-
ible – linked to the swelling and softening of the polymer film
when in contact with water, with consequences on flexibility, on
adherence strength and on part of the expansion and contraction
movements; and (ii) irreversible – linked to the late hydration

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2010.12.004
 F.L. Maranhão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 2948–2954 2949

effects of the cement with consequent alteration of pore size distri-
bution and increase in stiffness.
Silva and Monteiro [17] produced hypotheses which explain the
action of water on EVA-based mortars in the following way:
 Swelling of the PVA protective membrane with consequent soft-
ening and reduction of mechanical resistance. In the same arti-
cle, the authors did not find any proof of the existence of this
phenomenon.
 Existence of water-sensitive products such as calcium acetate
and other organometallic products, as a consequence of chemi-
cal interaction between the PVA and the hydrated compounds
in cement.
 Increase in the number of pores of size 10–50 nm, which are
more sensitive to the superficial stress of the aqueous phase.
2.2. Mortar
Six different adhesive mortars were used (Table 1), four of them specially pro-
duced for this experiment. These four were intended to differ from all commercial
mortars and had a higher polymer/cement ratio compared to the latter. Moreover, a
similar concentration was used by Silva and Monteiro [17] and Oliveria and Silva
[24] when studying the effect of vinyl base-polymers on the cement matrix.
The two commercial mortars are widely used in the Brazilian market for setting
porcelain stoneware tiles on façades and are classified as AC II according to Brazilian
standard NBR 14081 (quite similar to class C2 in EN 12002).
The mortars were prepared with composite cement (around 30% of bfs) and
limestone aggregate, which represent the most used raw materials in Brazil for pro-
ducing dry-set mortars.
Mortars A, B and C used VinnapasÒ 5010N, a vinyl acetate/ethylene copolymer
(VAE), and mortar D used Rhoximat™ PAV 22B, a vinyl acetate vinyl versate copoly-
mer (VAC-VeoVa), as adhesion promoter polymers. The cellulose polymer used was
CulminalÒ 4051, a methylcellulose derivate. Table 2 presents some properties of
these polymers, as published by the manufacturers.

Contrary to the consensus on the damaging effect of water on 2.3. Specimen preparation

mortar in laboratory experiments, no agreement is found on the
performance requirement of adhesive mortars when in service
conditions. Authors such as [18,19] suggest that there is an in-
crease in compressive strength, tensile flexure and bond strength
of these mortars, based on results of natural aging assays for up
to ten years; whereas Sá [20] and Yiu et al. [21] measured reduc-
tions above 50% in the bond and shear strength, respectively, on
ceramic tiles when specimens were subjected to artificial aging
cycles.
In consideration of these opposing analyses, we aimed to inves-
tigate the influence of moisture content on the flexibility of differ-
ent adhesive mortars.
The mortar and specimen preparation procedures followed the directives of
standard EN 12002 [22]. After molding, the specimens were stored in a high relative
humidity chamber (100% RH) for 48 h followed by 26 days of exposure in non-con-
trolled laboratory conditions with temperatures varying from 25 ± 5 °C and 60–80%
humidity until they were 28 days old. After that, the specimens were soaked in
water for 10 days and then removed and stored in piles in the laboratory for
25 days. Tests were conducted throughout this period (Fig. 1).
After each test, samples were taken from the each specimen and weighed in a
balance with a precision of 0.01 g to give wet mass; they were then placed in a ven-
tilated oven at 100 °C and heated to constant mass (the dry-mass value). From the
dry and wet mass values, the moisture content of the specimens at the moment the
assays were carried out was determined. The minimum core mass used was 15 g.
The piling storage method used gave different moisture values for specimens of
the same drying age.

2.4. Flexibility test

2. Materials and methods
2.1. Experiment
This research was carried out in the laboratory and used two different sets of
adhesive mortar; one with controlled formulations and the other collected from
the commercial market.
The assays consist of measuring the specimen transverse deformation through-
out the drying process after immersion in water for 10 days. A total of 370 flexibility
tests were performed.
The assay procedures followed the directives of standard EN 12002 [22], which
is specific for assessing adhesive mortar flexibility and has been cited in many pre-
vious publications. In this case, the radius of the upper support was reduced from
97 cm to 2.0 cm (Fig. 2) to minimize variations in the contact surface between
the support and the specimens, in case of large deformation.
A set of tests performed before the immersion of the specimens in water
(28 days old) was used as a control. The other assays were performed after 10 days
of immersion and over 25 days of drying.
The highest result for each mortar was used in the normalized analysis.

Table 1
Mortars formulations. All values referred to dry weight.

Mortar Type Water/powder ratio (%) Cement content (%) Cellulose polymer content (%) Adhesion promoter
polymer content (%)
VAE VAC-VeoVa
A Prepared 39.5 25 1.0 20
B Prepared 39.5 40 1.0 10
C Prepared 39.5 40 1.0 20
D Prepared 39.5 40 1.0 20
E Commercial 23
F Commercial 23

Table 2
Properties of polymers used in the experiments.

Rhoximat™ PAV 22B VinnapasÒ 5010N Culminal 4051

Powder
Colour White White to pale yellow powder White to off-white
Bulk density (g/l) 400–600 490–590 200–500
Particle size grade (lm) 80 ± 10 Max. 4% over 400 lm DV90–295
Powder re-dispersed
Brookfield R.V.T. viscosity mPa s 65.000–85.000
Particle diameter at dispersion (lm) 1–5 0.5–8
Minimum film forming temperature (°C) 6° 4°
2950 F.L. Maranhão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 2948–2954

1. M
MAT
TER
RIA S AND
ALS A DMMET
THO
ODDS

Speecim
menn Cuurinng S cimeen imm
Spec merrsionn Dryyingg – flexxibillity testt
1000%
% RH
H l orattory
labo y
0 2 28 38 633

Days

Fig. 1. Schematic schedule used in laboratory.

used the VAC-VeoVa adhesion promoter polymer, showed the

Fig. 2. Method used to measure the adhesive mortar deformability.
Fig. 3. Typical stress–deflection result obtained in the experiments.
Tests were conducted on an Instron Universal Machine with a load cell unit of
1 kN. The transverse deformation and load were measured. The Modulus of Rupture
(MOR) was calculated using formula (1) and the Young’s Modulus (E) was directly
measured by the stress–deflection ratio to rupture, since the wet specimen showed
an almost linear behavior (Fig. 3).
2
MOR ¼ 3=2PL=be
where P is the final load, L is the span support distances (20 cm), b is the specimen
width, and e is the specimen thickness.
3. Results and discussion
highest average while the lowest was for mortar B, which had
the lowest VAE adhesion promoter polymer content. Comparing
mortars A and C, it is possible to conclude that the lower the poly-
mer–cement ratio (0.8 vs. 0.5), the lower the flexibility is. All spec-
imens evaluated displayed a similar moisture content ranging from
2% to 3%.
When wet all mortars evaluated showed large reductions in
transverse deformation, ranging from 55% in mortar F to 90% in
mortar D. The highest individual result was 2.57 mm for mortar
A, which is 40% lower than the lowest dry result. In this situation,
most results were below 1.0 mm (Fig. 5). The average moisture
content in prepared mortars ranged from 19% to 23%, higher than
the 12.5% measured in the commercial ones. This important differ-
ence could be caused by a higher cellulose polymer content in the
prepared mortars, as previously observed by Oliveria and Silva [24]
and could be related to increases of air voids caused by the cellu-
lose ethers [25].
Similar flexibility reduction in commercial mortars was previ-
ously pointed out by Maranhão and John [23] when evaluating nat-
ural aging in tropical climates over six months.
Fig. 6 presents the Modulus of Rupture results for dry and wet
mortars. In the dry state, the average results for all mortars were
similar and ranged from 3.20 MPa to 4.20 MPa. On the other hand,
the wet averages were quite low. Mortar A, which had the lowest
cement content and highest water/cement ratio, showed the great-
est reduction (90%) while mortars C and D, with 40% of cement,
showed a behavior similar to the commercial ones.
These results could have been influenced by the specimen
dimension used, mainly the thickness of 3.0 mm. However, the re-
sults are in agreement with those of Oliveria and Silva [24] who
used specimens with thickness of 1.0 cm and 14 days water
immersion.
Fig. 7 shows the Young’s Modulus results. In this case, all pre-
pared mortars showed lower values when compared to commer-
cial ones, as a consequence of the polymer/cement ratio ranging
from 0.25 to 0.80; commercial mortars are usually lower than
0.10. Mortars B, C and D, which had a similar cement content
(40%), showed similar results only after saturation, probably be-
cause of better cement hydration with consequences on the pore
size system, previously observed by Jenni et al. [16].
The results suggest that continuous contact with water for
ð1Þ
long periods leads to important changes in the mechanical prop-
erties of polymer-modified mortars: it reduces deformability
(measured in this paper as transverse deformation) and the Mod-
ulus of Rupture (MOR). The consequence is an increase in Young’s
Modulus.

3.1. Saturation 3.2. Drying

Fig. 4 shows the flexibility results at two different moments: be-
fore immersion in water (dry) and after 10 days of immersion
(wet).
When dry, all prepared mortars showed higher transverse
deformations compared to the commercial ones. Mortar D, which
During the drying process all prepared mortars showed similar
kinetics and took more than 400 h to reach a moisture content near
to that measured before saturation. For the commercial mortars,
this time was shorter and 150 h were sufficient (Fig. 8). The longer
time required for the prepared mortars could be attributed to the
 F.L. Maranhão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 2948–2954 2951

2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig. 4. Results of transverse deformation test for all mortars. Bars = transverse deformation; line = moisture content.

moisture content reached values below 6%, when some tendency

Fig. 5. Frequency of mortar deflection in the wet state.
cellulose polymer content, which is higher than normally used for
commercial mortars, and reduces the water permeability [27].
Different moisture contents observed in same aged mortars are
caused by the piling method used to store the specimens.
Throughout the drying process, no significant variation in
transverse deformation was observed until the specimen
to increase was measured in all mortars (Fig. 9). Above these val-
ues, no mortar, except mortar A, showed a flexibility above 5 mm,
which is specified by standard EN 12002 [22] as the minimum
requirement for high deformable mortars. This behavior could
be attributed to it having the lowest cement concentration and
the highest polymer/cement ratio, but the authors do not have
a precise explanation for it.
Mortar D showed a different behavior and immersion for
10 days caused some important and irreparable damage to defor-
mability; the highest transverse deformation measured was
5.55 mm, which represents a reduction of 70% when compared
to the average dry results. These explanations must be related
to the polymer properties used, which were different from the
others; however, further investigations must be performed to
confirm this.
Normalizing all results, it is possible to obtain a good correla-
tion between transversal deformation and moisture content
(Fig. 10), when mortar D results are excluded. Although a less
strong correlation index of 0.70 was observed using a logarithmic
function, the results show a clear tendency. For moisture contents
below 6% any small increase causes a large decrease in transverse
deformation; while above this value the tendency seems to be
smooth and a flat decrease was measured.

Fig. 6. Modulus of Rupture results for all mortars in dry and wet states.
2952 F.L. Maranhão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 2948–2954

Fig. 7. Transverse Young’s Modulus results for dry and wet mortars.

Before
Saturation

Fig. 8. Illustrative drying kinetics for prepared and commercial mortars – C and F, respectively.

Mortar A
Transverse deformation after 10 days of

10.0
Mortar B
Drying Mortar C
7.5 Mortar D
immersion (mm)

Mortar E
Mortar F
5.0

2.5

0.0
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Moisture Content (%)

Fig. 9. Transversal deformation  moisture content during drying process after 10 days of immersion in water.

For all mortars evaluated, moisture content values above 6% are information for tiling performance throughout service life; water-
sufficient to reduce 50% of the flexibility. This is important tightness problems at joints are very common [5] and there is a
 F.L. Maranhão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 2948–2954
100%
Normalized Transverse Deformation (%)
75%
50%
25%
0%
0%
Fig. 10. Normalized transverse deformation of specimens vs. moisture content.
good correlation between mortar flexibility and capacity of multi-
layer systems to resist deformation [26].
Neither the polymer nor the cement content exert a great influ-
ence on transverse deformation when mortars are submitted to
water saturation followed by natural drying.
No good correlation was observed between the Young’s Modu-
lus, MOR and moisture content.
4. Conclusion
A ceramic tiling system is used on building façades in many
countries in spite of its defects. Based on our results, complete sat-
uration is not necessary to evaluate the influence of moisture con-
tent on mortar properties. Small increases in moisture are enough
to cause a large reduction in deformability and Modulus of Rupture.
The main conclusions from the laboratory experiments are:
 Moisture content above 6% is sufficient to reduce 50% of mortar
deformability.
 The drying process allows the mortar to recover flexibility to a
value similar to that prior to saturation. Some polymers seem to
show different behavior.
 A logarithmic function gives the best fit for correlations
between moisture content and flexibility.
 Water saturation increases mortar rigidity, as characterized by
Young’s Modulus.
These conclusions are even more important, since failures are
usually observed in grouting mortar used to fill joints in the cera-
mic tile system, enabling water intake. Even when there are no de-
fects, condensation could increase the adhesive mortar moisture
content. Therefore, it could be expected that on a real façade the
adhesive mortar moisture content could be high and could be the
cause of cladding failures, such as detachments.
The results suggest that standards, such as EN 12004 and NBR
14081, should add experiments using the dry state after tests on
specimens saturated in water, as a requirement for commercial
polymer-modified mortars. This could be very useful to predict til-
ing system performance.
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