Butylbenzene emulsion is employed to alter the characteristics of conventional cement mortar,decreasing its drying shrinkage performance.The effects of butylbenzene emulsion on the working performance,mechanical characteristics,and drying shrinkage performance of mortar were investigated through experiments.These findings suggest that butylbenzene emulsion may re-duce the compression ratio,increase mechanical strength,and prevent drying shrinkage and water loss in mortar.Utilizing butylben-zene emulsion at a dosage of 5%,resulted in a superior mechanical strength growth of mortar.The dosage of 5%possessed the best effect on preventing water dissipation,while 20%was the least amount of drying shrinkage of mortar.The SEM test indicates that the butylbenzene emulsion forms an essentially continuous polymer network structure inside the mortar by penetrating with ce-ment hydration products.