Knowing the Importance of Concrete Treatment

Concrete material is needed in most constructions, including industrial, commercial, as well as infrastructure constructions such as multi-level building, housing, and highway. Even though concrete is a strong material, it does not mean that concrete construction treatment is unnecessary. In fact, concrete construction requires treatment to maintain its quality, strength, and also durability.

A concrete treatment process, or usually referred to as curing process, is performed short after the concrete is entering the final setting or hardening phase. The curing process could be performed using various techniques. The first technique is performed by wetting concrete surface regularly using water. This technique will help maintain concrete’s humidity. Other than that, you could also maintain concrete’s humidity by soaking the concrete or flooding its surface with water. Another technique that is very commonly used for concrete curing is by using wet sack. Some wet sacks are put on concrete’s surface to make it remain damp. Another method that you could use for concrete treatment is using a certain material that is specifically designed for concrete treatment, namely curing compound.

Curing compound is an additional material that could protect concrete from hydration caused by sunlight and wind exposure. Aside from curing compound, water-resistant membrane could also be used as concrete protector. The membrane is used as a physical barrier to prevent water evaporation. A good example of water-resistant membrane that is often used to protect concrete from hydration is plastic. However, you need to make sure that the plastic you are using is free of holes to allow it to work effectively.

This treatment is done over a time span of 3 to 7 days according to the concrete’s type, surface size and shape, as well as weather condition. A treatment done with the right duration could affect concrete’s strength, structure durability, impermeability, surface resistance erosion, as well as volume stability. Liquid concrete actually has a sufficient water content, but excessive evaporation could disturb the upcoming hydration process. Concrete hydration process is relatively faster in the early times. Therefore, it is very important to perform a treatment right after the concrete has set.

The main purpose of concrete treatment or curing is to prevent any excessive hydration from happening and maintain concrete construction humidity level at above 80%. The right humidity level could maintain a good adhesiveness level between cement and aggregate, as well as prevent cracking. A good adhesiveness could maintain concrete’s strength and durability. Furthermore, treatment is also done to maintain concrete temperature in a specific duration. High concrete temperature could result in faster hydration process, so it is important to maintain concrete’s ideal temperature. A too low concrete temperature could make the concrete froze, and if the concrete freezes during the first 24 hours after casting, it could be hard for concrete to go back to its initial characteristic.