The scope of the paper is to report an investigation on durability of infrastructure concrete\nfor roads and bridges by creating a size and shape-designed pore systems in concrete in order to\nimprove it, especially in terms of freezeââ?¬â??thaw resistance. By means of this experimental laboratory\nstudy, an alternative for usage of air entrainment agents (AEA) in concrete infrastructures was\nfound in the way of using superabsorbent polymer materials (SAPs). The effect of the addition of\nSAPs of different amounts and different types into fresh concrete mix was investigated, including:\ncompressive strength tests, weight loss measurements, visual and microscopic inspections and\nscanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The detrimental strength reduction effect was not\nobserved. The freezeââ?¬â??thaw procedure was varied, using different types of de-icing salts and\nheating/cooling regimes. It can be concluded that an improvement of the freezeââ?¬â??thaw resistance of\nconcrete infrastructure depends on the particle size and optimal amount of SAPs added into concrete\nmix. The addition of 0.26 wt % of dry SAPs into the fresh concrete reference mix led to the significant\ndecrease of scaling up to 43% after 28 freezeââ?¬â??thaw cycles. Both dosage and particle size of the SAPs\nhad a significant impact on the obtained results and the freezeââ?¬â??thaw resistance in this experimental\nlaboratory study.
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