An Approach to Characterize the Wearability of Concrete Pavement Surface Treatments

For a concrete pavement, the permeation specifications for the surface have a crucial influence on its durability. In this accelerated laboratory research, a surface treatment that combines lithium silicate chemistry with a reactive silicon catalyst was tested to typify the product longevity under traffic and against salt scaling. River gravel and limestone aggregates were used in two different mixture designs. Abrasion testing was conducted according to ASTM standards in which mass loss was recorded at different time intervals. A modification was employed using a diluted deicer simulated by 4 wt.% CaCl2 solution during 15 cycles of freeze/thaw testing. A model was proposed to relate the abrasion efficiency against load cycles of a treated surface to represent the longevity of a concrete pavement. Based on the abrasion coefficient and the texture wavelength of the pavement, it is shown that the life cycle under abrasion of a concrete pavement can be modeled. During the experimental procedures, the untreated concrete specimens were used as the control sample. Results from the abrasion and freeze/thaw testing of treated specimens indicated a lower level of cumulative loss damage, which confirms the benefits of using such products to extend the service life of a concrete pavement surface. The results of modeling indicated an increase of 14% of the ultimate load application to failure for the treated specimens, which indicates an increase in longevity of the pavement. Moreover, when exposed to freeze/thaw cycles, a limestone concrete showed less damage compared with the river gravel concrete mixture.