This paper evaluates and compares the water retention in the fresh state and adhesion or bond strength in the hardened state of powdered and aqueous polymer-modified mortars. The polymer-modified mortars using various powdered and aqueous cement modifiers were prepared with different polymer-cement ratios, and tested for water retention in the fresh state and adhesion in tension in the hardened state. In conclusion, the powdered as well as aqueous polymer-modified mortars show markedly improved water retention and adhesion in tension, which increase with a rise in the polymer-cement ratio regardless of the type of cement modifiers used. The magnitude of improvement in the water retention and adhesion in tension of the powdered and aqueous polymer-modified mortars, however, depends upon the type of cement modifiers used, polymer-cement ratios or both. Moreover, the failure mode distribution of the powdered and aqueous polymer-modified mortars depends on the type of cement modifiers used, polymer-cement ratio, or both.
