Salted highways, bridge decks, docks, concrete pilings and anything else near water--especially salt water--are subject to accelerated degradation from water and salt intrusion. Using PVA in place of steel solves rusting forever. PVA can also be used as a very thin "whitetopping" layer, or sprayed on to encapsulate existing concrete. The dense PVA-ECC will dramatically reduce the intrusion of water and salt.
Crack control dosages can be very small, 1.5lbs/yard (0.975kg/m3) or lower in some cases. Replacing steel reinforcement requires much more fiber, from one to two percent by volume. But these high dosages provide optimally distributed reinforcement for a superior product. In addition, the labor required to place and tie rebar is eliminated or reduced.
Another effective approach is to reduce the amount of concrete cover over the rebar, replacing typical concrete with our highly engineered PVA-ECC. You can also reduce the amount of steel rebar in this scenario. Either way the PVA-ECC protects the steel from water and salt. Studies have shown a specially treated PVA-ECC can reduce water and salt penetration effectively to zero. You can see one such study by clicking here.
Please call us if you would like engineering support to add PVA fibers to your next project.
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Where there is salt and water, steel reinforcement will rust and spall. PVA will never rust. |
