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Concrete Curing Compound?

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Concrete curing compound are those compound which helps to prevent the loss of moisture content from the concrete. And water curing also do the same work so thats why we can swap water with curing compound

The two systems of maintaining a satisfactory moisture content are:

(A) :- Continuous application of water through ponding sprays or saturated cover materials such as Gunny Bags etc.

(B) :- Prevention of excessive loss of water from the concrete, by the application of a membrane forming curing compound to the freshly placed concrete.

Types of Curing compound

Acrylic compound :-
Acrylic is made of polymers of acrylic acid.  It has Water retention Reflectance

White water wax :-
It will seal the concrete by forming membrane. If we want to go for next proces (Painting ,plastering etc )the membrane can be removed by washing it with hot water.

Synthetic resin Compound :–
It seal the concrete by forming membrane. For next process the membrane can be removed by washing it with hot water.

Natural Rubber :-
It Form a layer and seals the concrete tightly and also fills the minute pores present in the concrete

Process of Applying compound

This compound forms a moisture retentive film after being applied on fresh concrete surface
This Film does not allow the inside moisture to come out of concrete hence, curing occurs.

Curing compound is applied when the finishing is completed and free water present on the surface gets disappeared. The curing compound is applied through spraying pipe and sprayer pressure is usually 0.5 – 0.7 MPa and cover 300 mm to 500 mm .This is large area like Dams,Airport runways etc but we can also use brushes or paint rollers to apply curing compounds.

Generally, one liter of curing compound can be sprayed for 0.20 – 0.25m2 surface area of fresh concrete.

When forms are removed, the exposed concrete surface should be wetted with water immediately and kept moist until the curing compound is applied. If water Available go with Direct chemical compound as soon as possible


Note :-

For maximum beneficial effect compound must be applied after finishing and as soon as the free water on the surface has disappeared

Mainly Used for :–

These curing compound is very suitable for large areas of concrete which are directly exposed to sunlight, Large Areas and Skyscalpers :-

  1. Big Airport Runways and Skyscalpers
  2. Canal linings, dams and other irrigation related structures.
  3. Sport arenas
  4. Chimneys, cooling towers and other tall structures.
  5. Concrete pavements, airport runways, bridge decks, industrial floors.

Properties of Concrete Curing compound

  1. Water retention :- Equalling 0.55 Kg/M2 in 72 hours when applied at 200 Ft.2 per gallon.
  2.   Appearance : White liquid
  3. Drying time :-Less than 4 hour according ASTM C 309 clause 10.3
  4. Specific Gravity   :- 1

Testing of curing compounds:

The curing compounds should be tested in accordance to ASTM:

Water retention – The Test should be conducted in accordance with test method C156.

Reflectance – Determine the daylight reflectance of white –pigmented compound in accordance with test methods E97

Drying time –The test should be conducted in accordance to ASTM C 309 clause 10.3