Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Choosing The Best Abrasion Resistant Coatings For Floors Made Of Concrete

By Lela Perkins


For the last several decades, protecting concrete floors has become a well planned process that uses protective coating. The main reason for this is offer the slab protection from contamination as well as other benefits like easing maintenance. In buildings, floors are the most abused surfaces, whether the building is residential or industrial. Here are guidelines for getting the most ideal abrasion resistant coatings to cover concrete floors.

Floors are subjected to all types of abuse, ranging from chemical attack, impact, thermal shock and abrasion. Floors made from concrete are not designed to take such continual abuse. They are porous and tend to create dust due to abuse and wear. It is because of this reason that concrete floors require some sort of protection irrespective of where it is located. The problem occurs when it comes to determine the type of protective material to select from the various conditions.

Complete floor protection should be part of any search for any new or old floor protection. The systematic process of selecting a coating will equip the building owner a basis for choosing the proper system. In order to pinpoint the search for the best floor coating application, a quite complete process has to be followed. It is worth bearing in mind that a person not only chooses the coating, but also a system that is complete in terms of application, total thickness as well as aesthetics.

Concrete floor coatings can be classified according to polymer type, thickness, finish and appearance. By going through the selection process, the thickness and appearance process can be narrowed. The polymer type classification can be quite difficult and hence require assistance when reviewing data and comparing performance. There are so many formulations for polymer coating to be utilized on concrete floors. Every one of them varies significantly from the other.

Polyurethanes and epoxies are the most commonly utilized polymers. Data and performance vary significantly in each type. Urethanes are used for high build to thin film coating, have remarkable wear and abrasion resistance, excellent gloss retention together with good chemical and stain resistance. Some urethanes possess excellent elastomeric properties and are extensively used in waterproofing applications due to their low permeability. A majority of urethanes coating contain solvents.

To coat concrete floors, the epoxy formulations used are typically not volatile, exhibit notable chemical and abrasion resistance, good adhesion and mechanical properties. They are applied in repairs of cracks, bonding of adhesives, toppings, coating of concrete materials as well as overlays. Nowadays, hybrids made from the two polymers have been used to manufacture materials with notable stress relieving and thermal properties, together with impact resistance.

There are several abuse areas that dictate the coating the coating that a concrete floor requires. One of them is exposure to chemicals, with types of exposure and chemicals being quite important. Materials differ significantly when it comes to resistance to chemicals, making exposure identification quite important. Common splashes and spills are less critical by far than constant immersion.

A fluctuation in temperature or thermal shock is a property to consider during the selection of abrasion resistant coatings. A bond loss may be caused by thermals shocks like floor steam cleaning.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment