MEASUREMENTS OF CRACK-BRIDGING ABILITY OF ORGANIC COATINGS FOR CONCRETE

The interest in using organic coatings to protect concrete structures has increased rapidly in recent years. One of the main parameters requested of these films for protecting structures is that they maintain their integrity even if the underlying concrete cracks. In this paper, a technique to evaluate the crack-bridging ability (CBA) of the coatings is addressed. In addition, the crack-bridging ability of different organic coatings is analysed on the basis of the mechanical behaviour of the unsupported films during stress-strain measurements. Experimental results suggest a power law relationship between crack-bridging ability and the tensile strength of the coating