COMPANY BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW OF KALMATRON®
Page 5
THE CHEMICAL REACTIONS
The following is a more technical description of the reactive properties of Kalmatron®. Illustrations have been included to demonstrate various applications of Kalmatron® as a protective barrier. Photographs which vividly display the processes that take place at x600 magnification are also included.
Compatibility of protective compositions, with a material being protected, is their ability to form, as a result of reactions, a product having properties similar to those of the protected material. In an ideal structure, let's look at the electrolyte reactions with various phases of cement stone, distributed depth-wise from the surface (Figure 1).
Kalmatron®, when applied to the surface of old concrete, in the form of a protective barrier, penetrates the concrete under the effect of suction and diffusion. This penetration results in a 5 to 14 fold increase in dissolution of allite and belite that yield their dissociation products, which are then hydrated and crystallized to give rise to new formations of soluble groups of calcium hydroxy-nitrate and hydroxy-chloride (reactions 1 through 5 in Figure 1). The filling of voids and cavities in concrete with dispersed crystals of hydroxy salts, having an enormous surface area, assures a waterproofing property, and results in the concrete being impervious to liquids having a high parting surface (such as alkalis, acids, crude oil and a number of oil products).
The Protective Barrier solution that reaches the area of crystalline and amorphous phases has an anion and cation surplus of previously discussed minerals (reaction 5). Ettringite dissociates here into aluminate and calcium components that will form calcium hydro-sulfates and aluminates at later stages with water and sodium cation release. Sodium causes an increase in the ion force of the aqueous pore solution and in stabilizing oxides on reinforcement bars. This also assures a long-term penetration of the solution, consolidation of concrete structure strength with strong, barely soluble crystals of tri-calcium hydro-sulfo-aluminate (reaction 6), calcium hydroxo-aluminate (9) and calcium hydroxo-nitro-aluminate (10), as well as a stable protection of reinforcement bars against sodium hydroxide attack (6, 7, 9, 10). When the solutions precipitate to the pore walls, crystals of calcium hydro-chloro-aluminate (9) and crystals of sodium hydro-aluminate are formed. The development of these crystals results in the micro-cavity edges growing together. This is the so-called "self-healing" of defects in the concrete structure.