Study of radon emanation from polymer-modified cementitious materials

A growing concern of the scientific community is the environmental impact caused by the increase of byproducts from several industries. A way of diminishing this problem is to employ waste material as an additional element in the formation of construction materials. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of polymers in composites containing vegetable wastes with regard to the emanation of radon, seeking a correlation between the rate of emanation of this gas and the physical–mechanical properties of the material. In order to reach this aim, compressive strength, tensile strength, water absorption, porosity, permeability and radon emanation rate were determined for the composite. The results indicate that the addition of polymer tends to reduce the radon emanation rate and improves the physical–mechanical properties analyzed.