Investigation of the Properties of Foam Concrete Produced Using Liquid Latex

Abstract

Foam concrete, a type of lightweight concrete, is highly preferred due to its lightness and ease of application. In addition, substitute materials are used in the foam concrete mixture in order to further improve the properties of foam concrete. In this study, the engineering properties of foam concrete produced using liquid latex were analyzed. For this purpose, liquid latex was added to the mixing water in this study. The amount of latex is fixed at 25% of the cement weight. Additionally, the amount of liquid latex added to the mixture was reduced to equal the amount of mixing water. According to the results, it was seen that liquid latex made positive contributions to the engineering properties of the produced foam concrete. It was observed that the water absorption value of latex-added samples decreased by 59% compared to the reference sample. In addition, the thermal conductivity coefficient of the samples with latex added was lower than the reference sample. In the microstructural analysis, it was seen that the pores were more homogeneous than the reference sample and no cracks occurred. Finally, the long chain bonds formed by liquid latex in concrete were first determined by SEM image analysis.