For Immediate Release
Repairing cracked, spalled, tipped and broken concrete has always been a dusty, noisy and time- consuming job. Even for minor repairs, prep and cure times can take hours, especially when removals are required. Just having an area under construction can often be a greater hazard than the fault itself. Roadware Inc. manufactures two-part, high-speed polyurethane called 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ . It eliminates most of the noisy, dusty, prep work and insures permanent, chemically resistant, repairs in minutes. Repairs often are made under traffic without slowing production.
Concrete Mender™ has a low penetrating viscosity of 8.6 Cps. Capillary action draws it into the pore structure of concrete. Unlike epoxy, it penetrates deep, hardens to 4,000 psi concrete in 10 minutes and holds bond, even in the most difficult and caustic repair situations. It is estimated that over 10 million linear feet of cracked and broken concrete are repaired each year with Concrete Mender and the failure rate, even after years of service, is close to zero.
Scanning electron microscopy was used to unlock the bonding secrets of 10 Minute Concrete Mender ™. The Department of Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign performed the tests, under the direction of Prof. David A. Lange. His summary reads in part:
The microstructure of the interface between Concrete Mender and concrete substrate indicates that a high quality bond is achieved. The success of Concrete Mender is due to the compatibility of Concrete Mender with concrete materials. The fresh liquid has a low viscosity and a low surface tension that allows capillary forces to draw Concrete Mender into the pore structure of the concrete. Experiments indicate that repairs using Concrete Mender fully engage the underlying substrate. The shrinkage of Concrete Mender is low and should not pose concern for debonding or delamination due to volume changes. The Modulus of Elasticity of Concrete Mender, as with almost all polymeric materials, is lower than that of concrete. The strength of Concrete Mender is on the order of concretes used in construction. It is reasonable to expect that repairs with Concrete Mender largely restore the structural performance of the original concrete.
Concrete Mender can be extended 3:1 with sand. This produces a trowel grade construction mortar that is used for runway and bridge deck repair. Industrial uses include ramp, spall, steps, trench, channel and crack repair. Normally gray, it can be colored, in the field, to match existing concrete. Concrete Mender is compatible with all commercial coatings.
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