An investigation on the effect of styrene-butyl acrylate copolymer latex to improve the properties of polymer modified concrete

[Display omitted] •Using SBA latex to investigate mechanical properties of polymer modified concrete.•Investigating the mechanism and microstructure formation process of the concrete.•Investigate interactions between SBA latexes and cement in the concrete.•Significant improvement in compressive and flexural strengths of the concrete. The effect of adding styrene-butyl acrylate (SBA) nano copolymer latex on the mechanical properties of concrete is investigated via performing scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses. For decreasing entrapped air content and increasing workability of the SBA modified concrete, silicone-based antifoam and superplasticizer were added to the mixture, respectively. Samples with different weigh proportions of SBA to cement, antifoam, and superplasticizer were fabricated to obtain proper ratios of these materials which had better effects on the mechanical properties of the concrete. Obtained results indicated that adding SBA along with antifoam and superplasticizer improved mechanical properties of the concrete significantly. On the other hand, the SEM analysis on the microstructure of the samples with the proper proportions showed that three-dimensional crystalline structures are forming in the structure of concrete and this can improve mechanical properties and durability of the sample.