Mecanismo de Atuação dos Polímeros Superabsorventes na Hidratação de Materiais Cimentícios

Superabsorbent polymers (SAP) are synthetic polymeric materials that have the capacity to absorb a great amount of fluid from environment and to retain it within its structure without dissolving. SAP can be employed in a wide variety of applications, such as personal care products, solidification of hospital waste, waste stabilization, coating electrical wires, artificial snow, among many other uses. This type of polymer can also be used as an internal curing agent to prevent cracking of autogenous shrinkage in high performance concrete. The most important property of the SAP is the water absorption capacity. This property depends on the salinity of the fluid, the degree of crosslinking of the polymer chains, the size and shape of the particles and other external influences such as outside pressure. To understand this property and the influence in mitigating self-desiccation process in concrete, this article reviews the literature on SAP and studied the kinetics of water migration in cementitious materials containing SAP, in order to better know this material to be able to use it more safely where its application is appropriate.