The curing process is the best way to strengthen the durability of the concrete. By doing this process, you will be able to avoid cracks on the surface. The curing process mainly needs water to be done. It is a process of keeping the surface level hydrated with water while the deep level is not yet dried.
The curing process is done after the concrete was poured and finished on the surface. This should be done after six hours of settling the concrete. However, this must be applied before 24 hours. If you fail to do it after a day, the concrete will totally dry on the outside but wet inside. In short, failed.
The sun may affect the drying process of a concrete. That is why it is important to wet the concrete with water starting from morning until noon. Doing the curing process late may affect the concrete thus making an effect that you would not want to attain.
There are factors that affect the curing process. By knowing these factors, you will be more aware of what you would do and would not do.
Factors affecting the curing process:
Chemical composition– there are some chemicals mixed into the concrete that affects its drying process. That also means that it affects the curing process as well. There are chemical compounds that are invented for making the curing process faster. Usually, that is used for urgent projects.
Water-cement ratio- the more water used, the longer the drying process is. because there is a lot of water that needs to moist in order for the concrete to fully dry. However, if the ratio of cement is higher than the water, the drying process will be faster.
Mixture– The materials that are used can affect the whole process. This also connects to the aggregates that are used.
Characteristics of aggregate- there are many aggregates that can mix to cement to make concrete. One can depend on what type of concrete you need.
Temperature– the temperature has a great impact on how long the concrete could stay wet. For a colder temperature, the drying process takes longer. For a hot temperature, the drying process rapidly reduced.
The curing process is important because we have to consider the stability of the concrete. There are actually three factors on why you should do the curing process. Because some just leave the concrete behind.
Here are the reasons why you should do it.
- Hydration of cement- while the bottom is still not dry, the concrete must still be hydrated. To prevent premature construction of concrete, the top layer must remain wet.
- Elimination of shrinkage- cracks can be caused by shrinkage. In order to eliminate this, do the curing process.
- Absorption of the heat- what makes the top layer dry is because it absorbs the heat. In order to minimize this, the curing process is the one that you need to do.
There are many methods in doing the curing process, those are the following:
- Immersion
- Ponding method
- Spraying or fogging
- Wet covering
That’s it! I hope that you learned something in this blog. The curing process is easy if you will observe the process of your concrete. If in any case that this is too much for you, there are chemicals that can be used and professionals that can be called upon.