Effect of surface treatment on durability of concrete exposed to physical sulfate attack

Concrete exposed to sulfates in hot and arid regions can severely suffer from salt weathering. The resulting damage is typically localized at the above ground portion of concrete members. This process highly depends on the pore structure of the concrete surface through which salty water rises by capillary action. When water evaporates, salt crystals grow in the concrete surface pores leading to concrete damage. Thus, protecting the concrete surface can potentially enhance its durability to salt weathering. However, the vast variety of surface treatment compounds available makes the selection of an adequate material challenging. This is particularly true for concrete exposed to physical sulfate attack due to the lack of pertinent data in the open literature. Therefore, this study focuses primarily on assessing the effectiveness of different commercially available surface treatment materials in mitigating physical sulfate attack on concrete.