The thesis investigated that the adhesion of ground tire rubber (GTR) to cement can be improved by applying surface plasma modification. The hydrophobic surface of GTR powder has been transformed to a hydrophilic one through plasma treatment. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectral studies showed the increase in peak intensity at the range of 14001600 cm-1, indicating the generation of carboncarbon double bond after plasma treatment on the surface of the GTR powder. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis further confirmed the presence of oxygen-containing polar functional groups on the surface of the GTR powder after atmospheric plasma treatment. The improvements in plastic deformation and elastic deformation that attributed to the enhanced interfacial interaction between modified GTR powder and cement matrix were observed for the modified GTR-filled cement paste via triaxial test. The pore size distribution testing manifested a better compactness of plasma GTR-filled cement paste. Besides, scanning electron microscope illustrated that adhesion of modified GTR powder with cement matrix increased. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012