Effects of Calcium-Based Deicing Chemicals on the Durability of Concrete Products
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 33, Issue 11
Abstract
Deicing chemicals have been widely used in cold regions to control snow and ice on the surfaces of concrete products. At present, the most widely used deicers are chlorides or acetates. Although the effects of the chloride- or acetate-based deicers on the durability of concrete products have been investigated, the impacts of the calcium-based deicers on the performance of concrete materials were barely discussed. In this study, the effects of calcium-based deicers on the durability of concrete materials with exposure to freeze/thaw (F/T) and wet/dry (W/D) cycles have been investigated in the laboratory. Three types of deicers, including calcium chloride (), calcium acetate (), and calcium formate (), were used to compare their effects on the durability of concrete materials. The testing results show that the mechanical properties of concrete materials significantly declined after exposure to deicers along with F/T and W/D cycles. The microstructure analysis demonstrates that the reduction of the mechanical properties primarily resulted from the microstructure change after exposure to the F/T and W/D cycles in deicing chemical solutions. This study not only provides experimental results of the mechanical properties reduction regularity but also elucidates a potential degradation mechanism of the reinforced concrete products and structures from a perspective of the microstructure change.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFB0310003), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 51772128 and 51632003), Taishan Scholar Program, Case-by-Case Project for Top Outstanding Talents of Jinan, Double Hundred Foreign Expert Program (WST2018011), and Lianyungang Gaoxin District International Scientific Cooperation Program (HZ201902), Sino-European Research Center program (SERC-M-20191201), and Lianyungang Haiyan Plan Program (2019-QD-002). The authors also acknowledge the financial support for this project provided by the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT).
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Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 33 • Issue 11 • November 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 22, 2020
Accepted: Mar 23, 2021
Published online: Sep 7, 2021
Published in print: Nov 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Feb 7, 2022
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