China, as a big producer and user of ceramic wall and floor tiles, and the tile adhesive, as an important component of products in the dry powder mortar field, have been increasingly attracting widespread attention in the industry. As the country has developed a series of standards, the ceramic tile adhesive market has been further standardized. The cement-based ceramic tile adhesive is usually the powdered mixture composed of hydraulic cementitious materials, mineral aggregates, and organic admixtures, mixing with water or other liquids before use. In this, the redispersible latex powder and cellulose ether, as the two most important kinds of organic admixtures, play an important role in the cement-based ceramic tile adhesives, and is also a hot area of research and applications.

 

1. Tensile Bond Strength

Cellulose ether is mainly used as a water-retaining thickener in the field of dry powder mortar, while the introduction of cellulose ether has an impact on the hydration hardening process of cement. Generally speaking, the cellulose ether will slow down the hydration dynamic process of cement, with a certain retarding effect. At the same time, as the cellulose ether has the structural characteristics of polymeric surfactant, making it also with a certain air-entraining effect. From the perspective of materials science, the structure of material will determine the properties of material. The above two types of effects largely determine the structural characteristics of tile adhesive during fresh mixing and after hardening. This in turn will also affect the tensile bond strength performance of tile adhesive to a large extent.

2. Anti-Slip Performance

With the advancement of thin layer construction method of ceramic tile, anti-slip performance is gradually becoming a direction of the development of tile adhesive. The anti-slip performance of tile adhesive is determined to a large extent by the cellulose ether used. Some cellulose ethers with special modification treatment on the anti-slip performance significantly help to improve the anti-slip performance of tile adhesive.

3.Conclusions

(1). Cellulose ether has a more significant impact on the freshly mixed and hardened performance of tile adhesive products. This includes many aspects such as the amount of water required, the tensile bond strength without curing conditions, and anti-slip performance.

(2). In adjusting the workability of tile adhesive, the way to control the the same consistency and adjust the amount of water added is recommended to use, which is more conducive to the actual construction applications.

(3). Different cellulose ethers have varying degrees of impacts on the tensile bond strength of tile adhesives under various curing conditions. The relatively balanced performance can be used as a basis for the selection of cellulose ether products.

Leave a Reply