Properties of poly methyl methacrylate mortars with unsaturated polyester resin as a crosslinking agent

This study dealt with the properties of poly methyl methacrylate(PMMA) mortars using the binders which are made from a methyl methacrylate monomer solution of expanded polystyrene. Unsaturated polyester (UP) resin was used as a crosslinking agent of the binders. PMMA mortars were prepared with binders of various UP resin contents and then tested for working life, exothermal temperature, length change, flexural and compressive strengths, and the temperature dependence of the flexural and compressive strengths. The working life of PMMA mortar can be increased by raising the binder’s UP content. In case of PMMA mortar, which contained EPS 25% in the mixing ratio, it was possible to attain no shrinkage or low-shrinkage by adding 2–5% of UP. The flexural strength of the mortar decreased with the increase of the UP content, the compressive strength of the mortar increased with the increase of the UP content and reached the maximum at UP content of 5%. However, no improvement in the thermal resistance of the mortar was observed by the crosslinking reaction of the UP resin. It is strongly recommended to use UP resin as an effective crosslinking agent for controlling the expansion or shrinkage of PMMA mortar.