Influence of Combined Air-Entraining Superplasticizer and Surface Treatments on Airport Pavement Concrete against Salt Freezing

Abstract

Effective improvement of the frost resistance of concrete in cold regions is critical for the durability of airport pavement concrete in plateau. This paper intends to contribute to a better knowledge of the effects of combined air-entraining superplasticizer and surface treatments on the resistance against freezing-thawing and salt freezing. First, an optimum mixing by considering w/c, cement content, sand ratio, and air-entraining superplasticizer was obtained by comparing compressive and flexural strength, microstructure, pore distribution, and resistance to freezing-thawing of different mixes. From the results, a concrete mix with air-entraining superplasticizer, w/c = 0.4, cement amount at 330 kg/m3, and sand ratio = 0.3 was selected for airport pavement. Then, this mix was subjected to salt freezing with different surface treatments (smoothing, brushing, spraying with silane, and impregnating with silane), and the spalled mass loss in salt freeze cycles was reported. The results show that combined use air-entraining superplasticizer and surface treatments can provide an obvious improvement on the resistance to salt freezing. Compared to silane impregnation, surface treatment by silane spraying performed much better in early time.