CHARACTERIZATION OF SILICATE SEALERS ON CONCRETE

Sealing concrete with soluble sodium silicate may improve surface prop erties such as hardness, permeability, chemical durability, and abrasi on resistance. Previously, such treated surfaces had not been characte rized sufficiently to provide a complete understanding of how silicate improves concrete properties. Therefore, it is the object of this wor k to contribute to the understanding of how the application of soluble silicate alters the surface of concrete by verifying its effects on a bsorption, abrasion resistance, chloride permeability, chloride penetr ation, and surface composition. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.