Evaluation of the performance of surface treatments on concrete durability

This paper reports on a laboratory-based study carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of surface treatments on the durability of concrete and suggests a number of different evaluation methodologies for assessing the performance of various surface treatments. Durability of untreated and treated concrete specimens was evaluated by measuring chloride diffusion, charge passing capacity, air permeability and water absorption. A total of six concrete surface treatments were selected to represent different generic types, including coating, penetrant and mixed-use treatments. Results show that the concrete specimens with a coating procedure have a better long-term performance and effectiveness than the specimens with the penetrant treatments. This work also indicates that the wetting and drying cycles test can be used to assess the weatherability of the surface treatments. The ASTM C 1202 and the Autoclam air permeability test can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of surface treatments quantitatively. Further work is needed, however, to assess the longevity of the various surface treatments.