Abstract—The Corrosion of steel reinforcement due to contamination by chloride ions from deicing salts is the major cause of deterioration of concrete structures. The research was undertaken to investigate the performance and effectiveness of impregnation on Self-compacted concrete by using water and Solvent based impregnates. Thirty six, 100 mm³ concrete cubes were cast from two different design mixtures and cured, before being submerged in clean water to determine their sorption profiles at set times. The cubes were then dried before Water and Solvent based impregnation materials were applied. Twenty four cubes were treated and twelve cubes were left untreated and were used as control. All the cubes were then ponded with sodium chloride solution. The cubes were then dry drilled at various depths of 5, 10, 15 20, 25 and 30 mm for dust samples which were used to obtain chloride concentration levels by Volhard's method. The Chloride concentration profiles in treated and untreated cubes from two mix designs were compared and the results reflected a significant reduction in chloride ion penetration in treated cubes compared to the untreated ones. Water based impregnate material performed better than Solvent based product on concrete specimens that had 50 and 100% moisture content. 

Index Terms—moisture content, self-compacting concrete, impregnation, sorption, water absorption, chloride concentration, degree of saturation

Cite: M N Balakrishna, M M Rahman, D A Chamberlain, Fouad Mohammad, and Robert Evans, "Effectiveness of Impregnation on Self-Compacted Concrete," International Journal of Structural and Civil Engineering Research, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 42-61, November 2013.