Development of Superhydrophobic Coatings on Concrete Surfaces

Durability of concrete is a most concerned problem among civil engineers all over the World. The durability of concrete is affected by intrusion of water and other chemicals through pores and capillaries of the surface of concrete. Once this water permeation is arrested by proper coating, the durability of concrete will be increased to many fold. Therefore keeping this in mind, various coating (36 Nos) are developed to develop Superhydrophobicity using Silane, Siloxane, Silicone, Poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) as binders and as filler material Nano Silica, Silica Fume, Micro Silica, TiO2, etc are added and applied& sprayed on surface of cement mortar specimens of size 100mm x 100mm x 10mm. Superhydrophobicity of the coating was seen with a drop of water on that. Few coatings performed very well and resembles water droplet on a Lotus Leaf and the rest of the coatings does not provide the necessary Superhydrophobicity but were hydrophobic. The Coatings with water drops are shown in photographs to actually witness the technology of the coating.