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Article: Carbonation of concrete.(Erlin & Hime on Concrete)
- Article from:
- Concrete Construction
- Article date:
- August 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Hanley-Wood, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In an earlier column we discussed the amazing alkalinity of portland cement concrete and some of its effects. Its high alkalinity is primarily provided by the "bases" present in all concrete (potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, and calcium hydroxide) that form when water is added to portland cement. To continue the subject you should know about the destruction of this alkalinity, what can happen to concrete when that occurs, and how it sometimes is used to evaluate problems. Fortunately, the news is not all bad.
To start, we thought that you might like to familiarize yourself with some of the chemical formulas used by chemists, so we have included a list of ...