In many cases, service life of reinforced concrete structures is severely limited by chloride penetration until the steel reinforcement\nor by carbonation of the covercrete.Water repellent treatment on the surfaces of cement-based materials has often been considered\nto protect concrete from these deteriorations. In this paper, three types of water repellent agents have been applied on the surface\nof concrete specimens. Penetration profiles of silicon resin in treated concrete have been determined by FT-IR spectroscopy.Water\ncapillary suction, chloride penetration, carbonation, and reinforcement corrosion in both surface impregnated and untreated\nspecimens have been measured. Results indicate that surface impregnation reduced the coefficient of capillary suction of concrete\nsubstantially. An efficient chloride barrier can be established by deep impregnation.Water repellent surface impregnation by silanes\nalso can make the process of carbonation action slow. In addition, it also has been concluded that surface impregnation can provide\neffective corrosion protection to reinforcing steel in concrete with migrating chloride.The improvement of durability and extension\nof service life for reinforced concrete structures, therefore, can be expected through the applications of appropriate water repellent\nsurface impregnation.
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