Performance Enhancement of Self-Compacting Concrete in Saline Environment by Hydrophobic Surface Protection

The purpose of this research is to enhance the performance of self-compacting concrete (SCC) to make it a more sustainable alternative to traditional concrete. SCC serves the purpose in harsh environments, therefore, requires protection against de-icing agents and harmful saline environments. This paper reports the results from a laboratory study evaluating the efficacy of two impregnants; pure-silane and water-based silane. Both materials were applied on dry and wet SCC specimens manufactured with high and medium doses of superplasticizer. When treatment is applied on dry samples, a significant reduction in chloride penetration was noticed. However, the impregnants were less effective when applied on specimens subjected to intermediate and long-term exposure to water. In dry conditions, pure-silane performed better than the water-based silane, although they had a similar performance when applied on wet specimens. In addition, increasing the internal moisture content has shown an adverse effect on the efficacy of both materials.