Construction and Building Materials 165 (2018) 443–450

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Construction and Building Materials

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

Effects of thermal-cooling cycling curing on the mechanical properties of

EVA-modified concrete
Sifeng Liu a,b, Yaning Kong a,⇑, Tingting Wan a, Guorong Zhao a
a
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
b
Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

h i g h l i g h t s

 EVA increases the ultimate tensile strength slightly under thermal fatigue loading.
 The elastic modulus of EVA-modified concrete under thermal fatigue loading is increased.
 Elastic modulus reduction by EVA under thermal fatigue loading are lost.
 EVA decreases the loss rate of crack resistance under thermal fatigue loading.

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

Article history: In order to investigate the application of polymer-modified concrete suffering thermal fatigue loading,
Received 30 October 2017 the mechanical properties of EVA-modified concrete under thermal-cooling cycling curing were investi-
Received in revised form 5 January 2018 gated. The results show that EVA reduces the loss rate of the compressive strength and increases the ulti-
Accepted 9 January 2018
mate tensile strength slightly under thermal-cooling cycling curing. EVA reduces the elastic modulus of
Available online 12 January 2018
concrete under normal curing, but the reduction effect of EVA on the elastic modulus under thermal-
cooling cycling curing is lost. EVA decreases the crack resistance, but it also decreases the loss rate of
Keywords:
crack resistance under thermal-cooling cycling curing.
Thermal-cooling cycling curing
EVA-modified concrete
Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Mechanical properties
Microstructure

1. Introduction cement hydrate and aggregate strongly. In addition, some chemical

With the society development of China, a large amount of finan-
cial and material resources are invested to develop the western
China. A large number of infrastructure constructions are being
built. The durability problems of concrete in western China also
attract lots of attentions of scientific research workers and engi-
neers. Polymer-modified concrete (PMC) has already been used
in various applications in the construction industry since the con-
cept of polymer modification for cementitious materials was put
forward. Nowadays, the mechanism of polymer action on the
hydration and mechanical properties under normal curing has
been investigated extensively [1–3]. The cement hydration gener-
ally precedes the polymer formation by the coalescence of polymer
particles [4]. The cement hydration and the polymer film formation
proceed well to yield a monolithic matrix phase [5]. The polymer
films prevent crack propagation, and simultaneously bond the
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kongyaning1224@126.com (Y. Kong).
reactions will take place between the polymer and inorganic
particles such as the interaction of Ca2+ ions with acetate anions
(CH3COO–) in aqueous solution to form calcium acetate [6].
Chemical interaction could result in the formation of complex
structures and in changes in the hydrated cement phases [7,8].
However, excess air entrainment and polymer inclusion cause dis-
continuities of the formed monolithic network structure whose
strength is then reduced [5].
Addition of polymers improves the properties of fresh concrete
and the flexural strength and reduces the elastic modulus [9–11].
The most outstanding feature of PMC is that it is well bonded with
old concrete and resists the entry of water and corrosive solution.
But PMC also sacrifices the early compressive strength and
increases the cost. Therefore, PMC is usually used as repair mate-
rial or road materials [12]. The PMC also has been used as struc-
tural concrete sometimes. Some attentions have been paid on the
durability of PMC such as permeability of chloride ion [14], carbon-
ation and shrinkage [15], and abrasion resistance and corrosion
resistance [16,17]. However, the utilization of PMC on other

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.01.060
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
444 S. Liu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 165 (2018) 443–450
construction works such as high strength concrete [13] is still lim-
ited because of the lack of enough durability research. The winter
temperature in western China is below freezing point and the low-
est temperature can be up to 50 °C. However, the summer is
characterized by a big temperature difference from 5 °C to 40 °C.
Because the elastic modulus of polymer and cement stone vary
widely so that the interface of substrate between them is inclined
to form large fatigue cracks [18]. Nowadays, the durability of PMC
under freeze-thaw effect has been investigated [19–22]. Guo et al.
also investigated the freeze-thaw effect on PMC in Xinjiang pro-
vince in northwest China [22]. However, in addition to the seasonal
freeze-thaw cycles, the thermal fatigue load in summer also affects
the concrete durability to some extent. According to the research of
Zhang et al., the surface temperature of concrete is up to 80 °C–90
°C when the environment temperature is 40 °C [23]. The big differ-
ence of temperature negatively influences the compressive
strength development and durability of concrete. Study by Xu
et al. has shown that the big difference of temperature reduces
the compressive strength at 28 d with about 17% [24]. Al-Tayyib
et al. also indicated that the heating-cooling cycling can reduce
the compressive strength and flexural strength by 32% and 27%,
respectively, leading to the reduction of durability to some extent
[25]. When the temperature exceeds a threshold or fluctuates
repeatedly in a large amplitude, the concrete is easily damaged
in the interfacial transition zone (ITZ), which is characterized by
loose structure, large porosity and more cracks [26]. By comparison
between normal curing and outdoor climate with a dry and big
temperature difference (day is 27 °C and night is 9 °C), She et al.
showed that the big temperature difference leads to the increase
of ITZ thickness and porosity, the reducing of the micro hardness
and the bonding strength between the aggregate and matrix. Obvi-
ous cracks can also be found among the ITZ [27]. Some studies have
been done on ordinary concrete under a big temperature differ-
ence. However, whether the addition of EVA will accelerate the
PMC deterioration under a big temperature difference is still not
clear.
In order to evaluation the mechanical properties and the appli-
cability of PMC under thermal fatigue load in western China, the
compressive strength and ultimate tensile strength of EVA-
modified concrete were investigated under thermal-cooling
cycling curing. The anti-crack property was evaluated by the ratio
of elastic modulus to compressive strength. The damage mecha-
nism of EVA-modified concrete was explained by microanalysis
using X-ray diffraction (XRD), mercury intrusion porosimetry
(MIP), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and ultrasonic test.
2. Materials and experimental
2.1. Materials and mix design
The ordinary Portland cement made by Anhui Conch Cement Co. Ltd. was used.
The chemical composition of cement is listed in Table 1. The physical properties of
cement and sand are listed in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. The continuous-graded
crushed stone with particle size distribution from 5 mm to 25 mm was used. The
particle size distribution of coarse aggregate is listed in Table 4. The redispersible
powder-ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) produced by Wacker (Nanjing)
Co., Ltd. was used to modify the concrete properties. The physical properties of
the EVA are listed in Table 5. A naphthalene water reducer provided by Shanghai
Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. was used. The solid content is 92%. At the rec-
ommended dosage of 0.2%, the water reducing rate is 12%–20%. During the prepa-
ration of concrete, the slump is controlled by the water reducer to 200 mm. The
detail mix design of the concrete is listed in Table 6.
Table 1
The chemical composition of cement (wt%).
MgO Al2O3 SiO2 SO3 K2O CaO
1.41 5.35 22.4 2.59 0.68 61.2
2.2. Preparation and curing of concrete
The cement and aggregate with or without EVA were mixed firstly for 30 s in a
forced single horizontal shaft mixer. And then they were mixed with water and
superplasticizer for 3 min. The fresh concrete was loaded into the mould and
vibrated for 30 s on a vibration table. The samples with moulds were cured in a cur-
ing room with temperature of 20 °C and relative humidity >95% for 24 h. Then the
samples were demoulded and cured in the same curing room for 7 d. After 7 d, a
part of the concrete was cured in the room continuously. Another part of the con-
crete was used for thermal-cooling cycling experiment in a high-low temperature
test-box. The specimens were cured at 5 °C for 2 h, and then the curing temperature
increased to 85 °C in 2 h. After cured at 85 °C for 2 h, the curing temperature
decreased to 5 °C again. Therefore, each cycle was 8 h. The values of relative humid-
ity in the high-low temperature test-box at 5 °C and 85 °C were about 60% and 25%,
respectively.
2.3. Testing procedure
The cement paste with water to cement ratio of 0.41, which is consistent with
the concrete, was prepared and cured with concrete for X-ray powder diffraction
test by using a Rigaku D/max 2550 X-ray diffractometer at a continuous scanning
rate of 2°/min with Graphite-monochromatized Cu Ka radiation generated at 40
kV and 100 mA.
MIP with an AutoPore IV 9500 V1.09 Mercury Intrusion Pore Apparatus was
used to calculate the pore sizes of concrete. The range of pressure is from 7 kPa
to 823 MPa. The sample diameter was 5 mm to 10 mm.
In order to see the film in the hardened cement paste, Afridi et al. tried to
remove the inorganic portion of the samples by etching the cross-section of samples
with 3% hydrochloric acid (HCl) for various time intervals up to a maximum of 5 h
[28]. In this paper, in addition to the directly observation of the fracture morphol-
ogy, the concrete sample was also treated with 1% hydrochloric acid for 6 min to see
polymer films in the hardened cement paste. After etching, the sample was washed
with water and dried. FEI QUANTA 650 was used for SEM test. Each sample was gold
coated for 2–3 min before viewing in SEM.
According to the Chinese standard of Technical Specification for Inspection of
Concrete Defects by Ultrasonic Method (CECS 21: 2000), the inner damage of the
concrete was measured by ultrasonic method. The specimens with size of 10 cm
 10 cm  30 cm were detected. The Double-faced testing method was used. There
are 9 ultrasonic transducers on one selected plane as shown in Fig. 1. The distance
between two test points is 25 mm. The final ultrasonic velocity of a specimen was
the mean value of the nine test points.
The preparation and testing of the concrete for compressive strength and ulti-
mate tensile strength are complied with Chinese standard of the Test Code for
Hydraulic Concrete (SL 352-2006, China). The average values of three tests were
used as the final results for the compressive strength, ultimate tensile strength
and elastic modulus. Cubic specimens of 15 cm  15 cm  15 cm were used for
the compressive strength test. The dog-bone specimens with cross section area of
10 cm  10 cm were used for the ultimate tension strength test. The specific size
of the specimen is shown in Fig. 2. A mechanical tester made by MTS Systems Cor-
poration was used. During the test of ultimate tensile strength, the load was
increased to two-thirds ultimate tension strength at a speed of 0.05 mm/min, and
then increased up to the rupture of the concrete at 0.02 mm/min. The secant mod-
ulus at 50% ultimate tension strength was calculated.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. XRD analysis
The XRD patterns of cement and EVA-modified cement pastes
are shown in Figs. 3 and 4. It can be seen that EVA changes the con-
tent of hydration products but not changes the types of phases. The
mineral admixtures in the ordinary cement lead to the peak of
crystal SiO2 and CaCO3. The activity of the crystal SiO2 is too low
to react with Ca(OH)2, even at an elevated temperature. Therefore,
the crystal SiO2 can be used as an internal standard phase to qual-
itatively analyze the hydration degree of cement by comparison
the intensity of anhydrous and SiO2 [29]. It has been proved that
EVA delays the hydration of cement by absorption on the cement
TiO2 MnO Fe2O3 ZnO SrO BaO
0.26 0.05 2.86 0.08 0.12 0.12
 S. Liu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 165 (2018) 443–450 445

Table 2
The physical properties of cement.

Loss on ignition f-MgO (wt Crystal SiO2 Residue on 80 lm sieve Setting time Flexural strength at 28 d Compressive strength at 28 d
(wt%) %) (wt%) (wt%) (MPa) (MPa)
Initial Final
(min) (min)
3.38 1.18 2.26 1.4 139 190 8.6 54.3

Table 3
The physical properties of sand.

Fineness modulus Soil content (wt%) Apparent density (kg/m3) Particle size (mm) Packing density (kg/m3)
2.9 4.0 2600 <5 1500

Table 4
The physical properties of redispersible powder-ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer.

Base polymers Hardness The minimum film forming temperature (°C) Glass transition temperature (°C) Rheological property
VAc/E3 Medium 4 16 Medium

Table 5
The particle size distribution of coarse aggregate.

Sieve pore diameter (mm) 25.0 20.0 16.0 10.0 5.0 <5.0
Residue (wt%) 22.2 19.3 18.7 23.1 15.8 0.9

Table 6
The mix design of concrete (kg/m3).

Cement Water Sand Gravel EVA Water reducer Slump (mm)

Ordinary concrete 416 171 725 1088 – 74 200
EVA-modified concrete 416 171 725 1088 33 33 205

Fig. 1. The schematic diagram of ultrasonic test points.

Fig. 3. The XRD patterns of pastes after 90 thermal-cooling cycles at 37 d.

Fig. 2. The specific size of specimen used for ultimate tensile strength test.
particles [30–32]. But the XRD analysis shows that the content of
anhydrous of EVA-modified paste is lower than that of ordinary
cement paste after 90 thermal-cooling cycles. With the hydration
of cement, at the age of 157 d, the content of anhydrous of EVA-
modified paste is still lower. This indicates that EVA increases
the hydration of cement under thermal-cooling cycling. The rela-
tive humidity at 80 °C is relatively lower, which is adverse to the
hydration of cement. But polymerization is easy to introduce dur-
ing the drying to reduce the permeability of concrete by film for-
mation [33,34], which also reduces the water evaporation.
Therefore, more water is available for the cement hydration in
the EVA-modified concrete. It also can be seen from the MIP anal-
ysis below that the EVA-modified concrete is denser than ordinary
concrete. This reduces the inner water evaporation during the
higher temperature curing, which is beneficial to the cement
hydration, too. In addition, a better dispersion of the cement
446 S. Liu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 165 (2018) 443–450
Fig. 4. The XRD patterns of pastes after 450 thermal-cooling cycles at 157 d.
particles during the mix process is another important reason for
the cement hydration improvement [8].
3.2. MIP analysis
The pore size distributions of concrete under thermal-cooling
cycling curing are shown in Figs. 5 and 6. It can be seen that the
most probability pores of ordinary concrete are 45 nm and
200 nm after 90 cycles. EVA has little effect on the most probabil-
ity pore at 45 nm after 90 cycles. However, increases the most
probability pore at 200 nm to 300 nm. In general, the addition
of polymers increases the porosity because the air voids will be sta-
bilized by the polymer [35,36]. This may explains the shift of the
most probability pore size. With the increase of cycling from 90
to 450 times the most probability pores at 45 nm of ordinary con-
crete and EVA-modified concrete are both increased to 55 nm.
After 450 cycles, the most probability pore of ordinary concrete
at 200 nm will increase to 400 nm, but the most probability pores
of EVA-modified concrete at 300 nm will decrease to 150 nm. This
illustrates that although EVA increases the pore size under
thermal-cooling cycling curing at first, it can refine the pore size
distribution at later ages after 450 cycles.
Fig. 5. The pore size distribution of ordinary concrete.
Fig. 6. The pore size distribution of EVA-modified concrete.
The results of cumulative mercury intrusion of ordinary con-
crete and EVA-modified concrete are shown in Figs. 7 and 8. It
can be seen that the cumulative mercury intrusion of ordinary con-
crete and EVA-modified concrete was increased with the increase
of the cycles. It reveals that the thermal fatigue stress damages
the concrete, leading to the increase of porosity. However, EVA
can reduce the mercury intrusion to improve the microstructure
of concrete.
In order to gain more insight into the pore structure of the con-
crete under different curing regimes, the measured pore distribu-
tion was divided into four-size ranges according to Mehta’s
research [12]: gel pores (<4.5 nm), mesopores (4.5–50 nm), middle
capillary pores (50–100 nm), and large capillary pores (>100 nm).
The results are shown in Fig. 9. It can be seen from Fig. 9 that after
90 cycles EVA decreased the pores of 50–100 nm. With the
increase of cycling times and the hydration improvement, at the
age of 157 d, the pores of 4.5–50 nm and 50–100 nm in ordinary
concrete were increased. Obviously, EVA increased the pores of
4.5–100 nm. But EVA also significantly reduced the capillary pores
of 50–100 nm and >100 nm. According to the theory of Mehta, the
pores larger than 50 nm influence the mechanical properties of
concrete. The strength decreases with the increase of the pores lar-
ger than 50 nm. Therefore, EVA can effectively improve the pore
Fig. 7. The cumulative mercury intrusion of ordinary concrete.
 S. Liu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 165 (2018) 443–450
Fig. 8. The cumulative intrusion of mercury of EVA-modified concrete.
Fig. 9. The effects of EVA on the pores after division.
structure of concrete exposed to thermal-cooling cycling to reduce
the adverseness of cycling on the mechanical properties.
3.3. SEM analysis
The SEM pictures of EVA-modified concrete are shown in
Fig. 10. Fig. 10a is the fracture morphology of aggregate-polymer
interface. It can be found that EVA film connects the aggregate
and paste well. In general, cracks generate at the interface of aggre-
gate and paste at first when the concrete is subjected to load. The
connection by the EVA film will impede the crack growth. The
bridge connection of the capillary pores also provides a more tor-
tuous path for water diffusion, which is beneficial for the cement
hydration as analyzed in the XRD. However, the film also is formed
in the hardened cement paste as shown in Fig. 10b. It has been
demonstrated that the acetate groups of EVA copolymer undergo
alkaline hydrolysis and interact with Ca2+ ions of the pastes to form
an organic salt (calcium acetate) [6,37]. The physical and chemical
effects of the film bridge the cracks to improve the fracture tough-
ness. According to the results of elastic modulus and the ultrasonic
test it can be deduced that the bridging failure will take place after
thermal-cooling cycling curing.
447
3.4. Ultrasonic test
The ultrasonic velocity evolution in the concrete under normal
curing is shown in Fig. 11. It can be seen from Fig. 11 that the ultra-
sonic velocity increases continuously, illustrating that the inner
damage of concrete is decreased with the hydration of cement.
However, the ultrasonic velocity in EVA-modified concrete is lower
than that in the ordinary concrete the whole time. This is explained
by the introduction of damage by the EVA film in the hardened
matrix, which is adverse to the compressive strength.
The ultrasonic velocity evolution in the concrete under thermal-
cooling cycling is shown in Fig. 12. The elastic modulus and ther-
mal expansion of polymer, matrix and aggregate vary so widely
that the interface between them is stressed to form fatigue cracks,
leading to the decrease of the ultrasonic velocity in the concrete.
Although the EVA film will introduce some initial damages to the
concrete, it is also beneficial to resist the fatigue loading of
thermal-cooling cycling. This made a crossing between the two
ultrasonic velocity curves after 450 times of cycling.
Combination the analysis of MIP, the pores of 4.5–50 nm
increases significantly under thermal fatigue loading, and the pores
larger than 50 nm decreases. The decreasing of pores larger than
50 nm is attributed to the acceleration of cement hydration by
EVA. More hydration products can be used to fill the capillary
pores, meanwhile, to increase the pores of 4.5–50 nm to some
extent. Furthermore, the damage caused by the bonding failure
between EVA films and hardened cement paste or aggregate
because of the thermal fatigue loading on the EVA-modified con-
crete may also introduces the increase of the pores of 4.5–50 nm.
In any case, EVA effectively reduces the fatigue loss of ultrasonic
velocity.
3.5. Compressive strength
The compressive strength development of concrete under nor-
mal curing is shown in Fig. 13. It can be seem from Fig. 13 that
the strength increase is mainly before 28 d. The development of
the compressive strength mainly depends on the microstructure,
which is affected by the hydration products of cement. C-S-H is
one of the most important products of cement. The volume per-
centage of C-S-H in a hydrated cement paste is about 50–60%
[12], which determines the performance of the pastes. It has been
analyzed by ultrasonic test that EVA increases the inner damage of
concrete. This explained why the compressive strength of EVA-
modified concrete is lower than that of ordinary concrete.
The compressive strength development of concrete under
thermal-cooling cycling curing is shown in Fig. 14. It can be seem
from Fig. 14 that the compressive strength increases before 37 d,
and then decreases after that. This is because the hydration prod-
ucts can effectively fill the cracks caused by thermal fatigue load-
ing. The self-healing speed is faster than the damage speed,
leading to the increase of the compressive strength. But later, the
damage speed by the thermal fatigue loading is faster than the con-
crete self-healing, resulting in the decrease of the strength. When
compared with the strength development of ordinary concrete,
the strength of EVA-modified concrete reduces relative slowly.
After 450 times cycling, the ultrasonic velocity in the EVA-
modified concrete is similar to that in ordinary concrete and the
porosity of EVA-modified concrete is lower, therefore, according
to the micro crack theory of Griffith, EVA reduces the damage prob-
ability. In addition, the bridging effects of EVA film between the
aggregate and hardened cement paste also play a vital role. The
film releases the stress concentration of crack tip and divides
macro cracks into various micro-cracks to prevent the crack’s rapid
propagation [26].
448 S. Liu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 165 (2018) 443–450

Fig. 10. SEM pictures of EVA-modified concrete at the age of 37 d under normal curing.

Fig. 11. Ultrasonic velocity of concrete changes with curing time under normal
Fig. 13. Compressive strength development of concrete under normal curing.
curing.

Fig. 14. Compressive strength development of concrete under thermal-cooling

Fig. 12. Ultrasonic velocity of concrete changes after thermal-cooling cycling. cycling.
 S. Liu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 165 (2018) 443–450
3.6. Ultimate tensile strength
The ultimate tensile strength of concrete under normal curing
or thermal-cooling cycling curing is shown in Figs. 15 and 16. At
the age of 7 d, the hydration of cement is retarded by EVA, leading
to a significant decrease of tensile strength. It can be seen that the
addition of EVA seems to have no effect on the ultimate tensile
strength under normal curing, but it has a little improvement on
the ultimate tensile strength of concrete under a thermal fatigue
loading. Certainly, all the reasons affecting the compressive
strength also impact the ultimate tensile strength. But the effects
of EVA film on the ultimate tensile strength are stronger than that
on the compressive strength.
3.7. Elastic modulus
The values of elastic modulus of concrete are listed in Table 7.
Before 97 d, the thermal-cooling cycling decreases the elastic mod-
ulus of ordinary concrete, but after that the thermal-cooling
cycling increases the elastic modulus. For the EVA-modified con-
crete, the thermal-cooling cycling increases the elastic modulus
continuously. It is noticed that after 450 times of cycling, the final
elastic modulus of ordinary concrete is very close to that of EVA-
modified concrete.
The development of micro cracks means the transformation
from the accumulated strain energy to surface energy by the new
cracks. Under the action of stress, the cracks on the interface
develop further from different angles, leading to the further
increase of local stress intensity and strain [38]. In another words,
the consequence of fracture development is that the effective area
of the load is reduced, so the local stress is greater than the nom-
inal stress of the whole cross section. Under normal curing, the EVA
film increases the interface under the corresponding stress by
stretching. The elastic modulus decreases with the increase of
the strain value in the stress direction. Because of the difference
of the thermal expansion coefficient and the elastic modulus of
EVA film, aggregate and matrix, after the thermal-cooling cycling,
the anti-crack ability of a part of the EVA films disappeared, leading
to a close elastic modulus between EVA-modified concrete and
ordinary concrete.
3.8. Anti-crack evaluation
The ratio of elastic modulus to compressive strength of con-
crete, which is one of the most widely used index to evaluate the
Fig. 15. Ultimate tensile strength of concrete under normal curing.
449
Fig. 16. Ultimate tensile strength of concrete under thermal-cooling cycling.
anti-crack ability of concrete, is listed in Table 8. The lower the
ratio is the better the anti-crack ability of the concrete is. It can
be seen from Table 8 that the anti-crack ability of EVA-modified
concrete is worse than that of ordinary concrete. When compared
with the anti-crack ability of concrete at 7 d, the thermal-cooling
cycling is beneficial to increase the anti-crack ability in 270 times
of cycling, after that the ability is decreased. However, the turning
point for EVA-modified concrete is after 360 times of cycling.
Therefore, although EVA is adverse to the anti-crack ability of con-
crete, it can reduce the deterioration rate of the anti-crack ability of
concrete suffering from a thermal fatigue loading.
4. Conclusions
The influence of EVA on microstructure and mechanical proper-
ties of concrete can be described as follows: The dispersion effect
of EVA during preparation of concrete makes the concrete denser
in the result of a reduction of the porosity. The EVA film formation
during the hardening procedure of concrete hinders the evapora-
tion of water under the dry thermal-cooling cycling curing, which
is beneficial to the hydration of cement. More hydration products
fill the capillary pores and the bridging of EVA film between the
aggregate and paste increases the bonding of aggregate and paste.
In addition, the connection of cracks by EVA films hinders the crack
propagation. These reduce the inner damage of the concrete.
Therefore, thermal-cooling cycling reduces the compressive
strength and ultimate tensile strength of concrete, but EVA reduces
the loss rate of the compressive strength and increases the ulti-
mate tensile strength slightly under thermal-cooling cycling.
EVA can reduce the concrete modulus to increase concrete
resistance to the impact load. However, the reduction effect of
EVA on the elastic modulus under thermal-cooling cycling is lost.
This is similar to the ordinary concrete that the thermal-cooling
cycling curing increases the elastic modulus and the final modulus
of ordinary concrete and EVA-modified concrete is very close.
EVA is widely used in concrete to improve the concrete proper-
ties such as the fracture toughness, impermeability and bond
strength to various substrates. But according to anti-crack evolu-
tion by the ratio of elastic modulus to compressive strength, the
anti-crack ability of EVA-modified concrete is lower than that of
ordinary concrete under thermal-cooling cycling curing. The good
news is that EVA reduces the loss rate of the anti-crack ability.
Therefore, it is not enough to modify concrete only by EVA. Com-
bined utilization of other methods such as addition of fibers should
450 S. Liu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 165 (2018) 443–450

Table 7
The elastic modulus of concrete (GPa).

Curing time (cycling times) 7 d (0) 37 d (90) 67 d (180) 97 d (270) 127 d (360) 157 d (450)
Ordinary concrete Normal curing 31 38 39 33 28 37
Thermal-cooling cycling (31) (33) (33) (31) (39) (45)
EVA-modified concrete Normal curing 26 23 30 27 22 26
Thermal-cooling cycling (26) (30) (31) (31) (37) (43)

Table 8
The anti-crack evaluation of concrete.
Curing time (cycling times) Elastic modulus/compressive strength
Ordinary concrete EVA-modified concrete
7 d (0) 881 1227
37 d (90) 696 707
67 d (180) 726 737
97 d (270) 731 808
127 d (360) 1015 1062
157 d (450) 1326 1386
be taken to further improve the concrete performance under
thermal-cooling cycling curing.
The study only concerns the properties of EVA-modified con-
crete. The data as a reference can be used for the construction of
pavement, roadside structure and structural concrete. But more
experiment study should be done if the EVA-modified concrete is
used as a repair material, especially the study on the physical com-
patibility of concrete and substrate. In consideration of the exper-
imental results that bridging failure of EVA film will take place
under thermal-cooling cycling curing, it is not optimistic to
increase the bond performance by EVA. The increase in EVA con-
tent even accelerates deterioration. Next step, a field study and
laboratory study on the interfacial bond property between fiber-
reinforced EVA-modified concrete and substrate will be carried
out in Ningxia Province of western China to find a best solution
and to verify the reliability of the laboratory assessment.
Acknowledgement
This research is funded by National key R&D program
(2016YFC0701003) of China.
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