Young-Keun Hong

Introductory behavior of rubber concrete

This article introduces a new type of concrete, the so-called rubber concrete, and thereupon presents a way of modification of waste rubber to construction articles. The conventional cement concrete is made by mixing cement with sand and pebbles, but the rubber concrete proposed here virtually excludes cement completely. The manufacturing process of rubber concrete can be divided into two methods, which are designated for dry and wet processes, but this article focused just on the dry process. The physical properties of rubber composite increased with the silane treatment of added aggregates, but the volume of the aggregate might not be a critical factor affecting the compressive strength in the range of the aggregate contents used in this study, that is, the interfacial adhesion between the matrix rubber and the aggregates was a key factor to improve the mechanical properties of rubber concrete. The compressive strength of rubber concrete was about 89 MPa and the Poissons ratio, which is the ratio of compressive-to-tensile strength, was 5.5%. From the viewpoint of the compressive strength and the Poissons ratio, rubber concrete had better properties than those of conventional cement concrete.

Structure of Regenerated Cellulose Fibers from DMAc/LiCl Solution

Solutions of celtulose (Cell) in dimethylacetamide (DMAc)/lithium chloride (LiCl) solvent are spun and annealed. The resulting fibers show various polymorphs with the different coagulants and annealing temperatures. Prior to annealing, as-spun fibers show Cell III morphology without differentiating the kind of coagulants. Fibers annealed at 170°C show Cell IV morphology and have better tensile strength than fibers annealed at 190°C, which show Cell III morphology.

Study on Polymer-Modified Self-Healing Asphalt

Polymers are introduced to neat asphalt to prepare self-healing asphalt. The polymers are Surlyn, Nylon and polyethyleneterephtalate(PET). Since they are known as having high intermolecular force, they have high processing temperature. Therefore they are hardly introduced into the asphalt as bulk state. So in this study, they are introduced as solutions. Polymer-modified asphalts showed excellent modification effect and also healing effect. 5% polymer added asphalt showed more than 18% increased tensile strength. This tensile strength increment can be explained by polymers intermolecular forces. Especially Surlyn interacts with asphalt molecules by hydrogen bonding and also with metals in asphalt by ionic bonding. When it comes to healing aspect the healing efficiency of Surlyn increased to 138% based on tensile strength. That of PET increased to 141% based on complex modulus and in case of Nylon it increased to 131% based on impact strength. This tells that in dealing with healing efficiency the important considering factors are not only the intermolecular forces of the polymers but also the interaction between the polymer and asphalt molecules.

Self-Healing Asphalt Prepared by using Ionic Epoxy Resin

Anionic epoxy compound was synthesized and added to asphalt aiming to prepare self-healing asphalt. Epoxymodified asphalt showed excellent modification effect and healing effect as well. The results revealed that with 5% addition of polymer the tensile strength, impact strength and complex shear modulus of the polymer-modified asphalt increased by 65%. 64% and 35%, respectively. It seems that high interaction occurs between polymer and asphalt matrix. Self-healing efficiency of the polymer-modified asphalt based on tensile strength showed 100%, comparing to 79% of straight asphalt. In impact experiment the polymer-modified asphalt showed 99% of healing efficiency, comparing to 77% of straight asphalt. In rheological experiment the polymer-modified asphalt showed 103% of healing efficiency, comparing to 72% of straight asphalt. It appears that the ionic bonding existing in epoxy polymers contributed to high values of self-healing efficiency. The polymer which has high intermolecular force fills the crack of the asphalt, pulling the opponent side each other, and so the original properties were restored.

Characterization of Flame-Retardant Foam Asphalt

This study was carried out to prepare a type of warm mix asphalt. Through urethane foam and emulsion asphalt preparation techniques a protocol of asphalt foam was made. Then three kinds of flame retardant agents were added in there to alleviate the inherent susceptability of asphalt and foam material to flame and thus flame retardant asphalt foam was made. The internal structure of form asphalt was composed of open cell. The higher the NCO% brought the larger the cell and the stronger also. Asphalt increased the strength of the foam. Among the flame retardant agents employed tritorylphosphate was the most effective.