FREEZE-THAW DURABILITY AND SCALING RESISTANCE OF CONCRETE PAVING

Tests results described in this paper show that it is quite easy to produce concrete paving blocks with excellent resistance to freezing-thawing cycles in water. Good resistance to frost-associated scaling in the presence of deicing salts is, however, much more difficult to obtain; and the problem is particularly difficult to analyse because two types of tests gave very different results. A freezing test in the presence of a saline solution (ASTM C672) showed positive influence of certain parameters (such as finer material), but freezing tests in a brine bath (ACNOR CAN3 A231.2 M85) did not show influence of any variable. In addition, the high number of compacting voids made it very difficult to interpret measurements of air-void characteristics made by examining ground sections under an optical microscope (ASTM C457).