In-situ preparation of polymer scaffolds in retarded cement slurries: An emulsion templating approach for rapid, on-demand strength development

We demonstrate in this communication that stable high internal phase emulsions consisting of a majority dispersed cement slurry as aqueous phase and a continuous but minority monomer oil phase can be produced. Polymerisation of the monomer phase using both a conventional thermal method as well as by fast setting using carbon fibres as resistance heaters results in bicontinuous polymer cement hybrid materials. We found that a reduction of the polymerisation time from 24 h to 90 min did not affect the physical characteristics, such as density and porosity, of the polymer–cement hybrids but results in a decrease of the crush strength and a significantly reduced elastic modulus.