EVA vs acrylic polymer

Hello, I'm new on the forum. Excuse me if I do not speak English very well ... I am currently testing to

find a good mix for vertical stamping and carving . On the inside walls my mix works well. But for

outdoor use in a cold climate, I doubt. Many companies like Butterfield, FossilCrete, Brickform uses EVA

copolymer, but EVA is very difficult to find in Quebec or unaffordable. Therefore I use an acrylic

polymer. On Concrete decor I read that acrylic is not recommended for outdoor use in extreme weather.

I would like to know if anyone has tested the acrylic polymer in a cold climate. Or if you know a eva

distributor in eastern Canada.

thanks

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kelley on February 6, 2013 at 2:33pm

i live in ohio it works just fine

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Permalink Reply by Roger Esch on February 23, 2013 at 4:44pm

I just bought some from AZ Polymer here in Phx. AZ. They use it to circumvent the wait time to let a slab throughly dry from cleaning. Its a concentrate so 5 gal. makes another 10 gal. and costs around 150bucks. I did some research on it and it is used by bridge and road engineers for construction in climates subject to road salts. Seems it has a higher resistance to salt penetration. So I think it would be good for pool and waterfall application. The only thing I noticed is that it doesn't accelerate setting time as much as the acrylic that I used. But there are some varibles for me to say that is absolute

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Permalink Reply by jeff kirt/ kirtbag Carving mix on February 24, 2013 at 8:33am

Hey Davy, I hope this will help you out. I think using any type of acrylic in an exterior application where there is extreme freeze/thaw cycles is not a good idea. If you can stick to the basics with an addition of an air entrainer you will have success. Concrete MUST have tiny air pockets in it so when freezing conditions are present, it has a place to expand when it freezes. If water doesn't have a place to freeze and expand, it will make your concrete fail. Acrylic somewhat seals off air pockets and prevents the air pockets from doing their job. Think of this, you have a concrete driveway and roads to travel on in your town, and I gaurentee they don't put an acrylic modifier in that concrete. It's just sand, cement, aggregate, and air entrained. I'm sure a water reducer would probably be a good idea also. I suggest calling a ready mix plant and ask them about a mix design and try to modify it for your use. Good luck.