Influence of freeze–thaw cycles on properties of asphalt-modified epoxy repair materials

A high performance repair materials for concrete is prepared using epoxy resin as a base resin and asphalt as a modifier, respectively. The influence of the asphalt content, freeze–thaw circles, and chemicals on the structure and properties of the repair materials is investigated in detail in this work. Results show that the epoxy repair materials modified with 10 phr of asphalt has the excellent mechanical property, and the compressive strength and tensile shear strength can reach 56.6 MPa and 5.9 MPa, respectively. The compressive strength further increases while the weight change for all samples is below 1 wt% when the repair materials suffer 30 freeze–thaw circles and chemicals soakage at 80 °C for 2 weeks, indicating that the asphalt-modified epoxy repair materials have the outstanding water, acid, and alkaline resistance and salt tolerance. Therefore, a kind of asphalt-modified epoxy repair materials with excellent freeze–thaw resistance is developed in this research.

► The epoxy repair materials have excellent freeze–thaw resistance and mechanical property.
► The mechanical property further increases upon the freeze–thaw circles.
► The repair materials have a “sea island structure”.
► The materials have the outstanding water and chemical resistance.