Accelerated laboratory evaluation of surface treatments for protecting concrete bridge decks from salt scaling Yudong Dang a,b,1 , Ning Xie a,c,2 , Amanda Kessel a , Eli McVey a , Alexandra Pace a,3 , Xianming Shi a,d,⇑ a Corrosion & Sustainable Infrastructure Laboratory, Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University, PO Box 174250, Bozeman, MT 59717-4250, USA b School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Caoan Road 4800, Shanghai 201804, China c School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China d Civil Engineering Department, Montana State University, PO Box 174250, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA highlights  Conducted accelerated lab evaluation of commercial products for concrete protection.  Three concrete sealers, two crack sealants, and two water repellents were tested.  Concrete cylinders were subjected to abrasion or 14 F/T cycles + 3 wt.% NaCl.  All products showed great performance and substantially mitigated salt scaling.  Resistance to both gas and water penetration is crucial to reduce salt scaling. article info Article history: Received 21 October 2013 Received in revised form 10 January 2014 Accepted 10 January 2014 Keywords: Accelerated laboratory evaluation Surface treatment Concrete bridge deck Bridge preservation Salt scaling Sodium chloride Water absorption Gas permeability Water contact angle abstract In this accelerated laboratory study, several commercial products of surface treatment were included in the test program, including three concrete sealers, two crack sealants, and two water repellents. To char- acterize the product longevity under traffic, the abrasion resistance of concrete treated by each product was tested. To characterize the product effectiveness against salt scaling, the surface treated concrete cyl- inders were subjected to the joint action of 15 freeze/thaw and wet/dry cycles and exposure to a diluted deicer simulated by 3 wt.% NaCl solution. The mass loss of these concrete cylinders during the freeze/ thaw cycles was periodically measured. For mechanistic investigation, the surface-treated concrete spec- imens were further tested for their water absorption rates, gas permeability, and water contact angle. For all the laboratory tests, the untreated concrete was used as control. The results confirmed the benefits of using these products to treat the surface of concrete against salt scaling, as all of them exhibited out- standing performance and reduced the mass loss of the concrete by 90% or more. Among them, two prod- ucts (epoxy-based sealer T48CS and water repellent ATS-42) exhibited the best performance in protecting the concrete from salt scaling and featured the highest resistance to abrasion and generally lower water absorption rates and gas permeability coefficients. The results suggest that high resistance to both gas and water penetration is a crucial property in a good surface sealer, crack sealant or water repellent applied to concrete. Published by Elsevier Ltd. 1. Introduction The durability of concrete structures has substantial economic, social, and environmental implications. The issue is exacerbated in cold regions where the concrete is at the risk of freeze–thaw cy- cling and physical and chemical attack by chemical deicers [1]. Physical mechanisms of attack by deicers can lead to damage of Portland cement concrete (PCC) in the common forms of scaling, map cracking, or paste disintegration [2]. Deicers may also pose detrimental effects on concrete infrastructure through their reac- tions with cement paste and/or aggregates and thus reduce the integrity and strength of the concrete [2–5]. Finally, roadway 0950-0618/$ - see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.01.014 ⇑ Corresponding author at: Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University, PO Box 174250, Bozeman, MT 59717-4250, USA. Tel.: +1 (406) 994 6486; fax: +1 (406) 994 1697. E-mail addresses: dangyudong@gmail.com (Y. Dang), ning.xie@coe.montana.edu (N. Xie), amandal.kessel@msu.gmail.com (A. Kessel), eli.mcvey@msu.montana.edu (E. McVey), alexandra.pace@msu.montana.edu (A. Pace), xianming_s@coe.montana. edu (X. Shi). 1 Tel.: +1 (406) 994 7053; fax: +1 (406) 994 1697. 2 Tel.: +1 (406) 994 7909; fax: +1 (406) 994 1697. 3 Tel.: +1 (406) 994 7053. Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 128–135 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Construction and Building Materials journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat