ABSTRACT
Recent studies in the literature have demonstrated the ability of self-healing processes to be effective in enhancing the overall life of concrete. The main goal of this project is to evaluate and to control specific parameters for the production of an effective self-healing matrix that can be utilized within the application of self-healing concrete. Therefore, the project objective is to synthesize microcapsules using dicyclopentadine and sodium silicate and to evaluate the effects of pH, temperature, and agitation rate on microcapsule morphology. The microcapsule diameter, yield analysis, and shell thickness were characterized using scanning electron microscopy.
During the experimental analysis, it was determined that temperature possesses a direct relationship with the pH for both sodium silicate and DCDP. As the temperature increased during the trials, the pH decreased. Temperature had a direct impact on the forming of the wall and core during the interfacial polymerization phase. Although the ability to maintain this consistency with the pH is important and essential, agitation rate is the key factor that controls the microcapsule capsule diameter size.
As the agitation rate is increased, the microcapsule diameter size will decrease. If the agitation rate decreases, the microcapsules will become larger. Sodium silicate, however, was not consistent with the normal parameter matrix, due to its alkaline nature. As the agitation rate increased, the size remained normal and consistent. This was due to the attempt to stabilize the sodium silicate solution for the micro-encapsulation procedure of Urea-Formaldehyde. Nevertheless, both sodium silicate and DCDP trials were successful in meeting the overall objective of this thesis, which was to control the performance parameters of the two self-healing methods.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-07052012-110306 |
| Date | 12 July 2012 |
| Creators | Gilford III, James |
| Contributors | Barbato, Michele, Hassan, Marwa, Okeil, Ayman |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07052012-110306/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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