Behavior of plaster with water-repellent additive under natural aging

Abstract

This research evaluates the behavior of plaster with a water-repellent additive when submitted to a natural aging process. Casting plaster and silane/siloxane-based water-repellent were used as materials. The water/plaster ratio was set at 0.7 and the contents of 0.2% and 0.4% of water-repellent were used, in relation to the plaster mass. Plaster pastes without water-repellent (reference) and containing mass water-repellent were evaluated at 'zero' age and after 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 days of natural aging. After 150 days of natural aging, it was observed that the mechanical properties of the material (compressive strength and hardness) did not undergo significant variations and remained above the minimum required by a standard. The addition of water-repellent resulted in a considerable reduction in water absorption, demonstrating the water repellency capacity of the material, compared to the reference specimen.