A laboratory study of the efficiency of a hydrophobic treatment of cracked porous building materials

摘要

In this paper the efficiency of a hydrophobic treatment of cracked building materials is studied. First, the penetration depth of the hydrophobic agent in cracked and uncracked building materials is investigated for different kind of application methods. The standard technique is compared to results obtained by the X-ray projection method. The advantage of this technique is that by taking 2D-images, it is able to visualise the evolution of the hydrophobic agent with time during distribution. Then the water penetration through hydrophobic treated cracks is visualised and compared. It is shown that the efficiency of a hydrophobic treatment of cracked materials depends on the material characteristics and the crack width but not so much on the application method.