How to Avoid Salt Water Corrosion in Reinforced Concrete

Salt-water corrosion, also known as concrete cancer, is a critical threat to reinforced concrete structures in marine and coastal environments. Chloride ions from salt water penetrate concrete, disrupting the protective passive oxide film on steel reinforcement. This initiates corrosion, causing rust expansion that cracks, spalls, and weakens concrete, leading to expensive structural repairs or failures.

Concrete’s microscopic pores allow water and dissolved salts to enter via capillary absorption, especially in harsh wetting/drying coastal cycles. Traditional protection strategies include dense low-permeability mixes, adequate concrete cover and detailing, corrosion inhibitors, protective coatings, and cathodic protection. While effective to varying degrees, these methods have limitations such as incomplete moisture exclusion, application challenges, re-coating needs, cost, and complexity.

Solid Silane: A Safer, Smarter Solution to Salt-Water Corrosion

Tech-Dry’s Solid Silane penetrating cream offers a potent solution that complements these methods. Unlike traditional liquid silanes, Solid Silane is a safer, non-flammable cream that penetrates deeply and uniformly into concrete. It chemically bonds with the substrate to form a breathable, robust water-repellent barrier that significantly reduces chloride migration without sealing the surface completely. This prevents the chlorides from breaching the passive layer, arresting corrosion before it starts.

Solid Silane extends the service life of concrete by reducing moisture ingress and chloride attack, lowering maintenance costs and environmental impacts linked to repair cycles. Its application is easy, environmentally friendly, and suitable for a wide range of infrastructure projects. In preparing for increased coastal infrastructure investment globally, combining Solid Silane with good design and maintenance practices offers a future-ready defense against salt-water corrosion.

For concrete durability and long-term asset protection in coastal environments, Solid Silane stands out as an advanced, key enabling technology in corrosion mitigation. Take the next step in protecting your infrastructure. Contact Tech-Dry to learn how Solid Silane can enhance durability, reduce maintenance, and support sustainable construction in coastal environments.