Concrete Testing Is Part of Routine Structural Testing

It’s hard to imagine the need for concrete testing; after all, people think of concrete as being solid and never showing signs of wear. However, any concrete structure is exposed daily to solar radiation, acid rain, wind, car exhaust and smoke.

Concrete Testing

Eventually, concrete is going to crack and show some wear and tear. In fact, concrete has poor tension properties and is prone to cracking. One tiny hairline crack can develop into a larger crack. An enormous crack might even threaten the stability of your building. That is why you should regularly test the thickness and durability of the concrete of your building.

Why does concrete crack? To put it simply, concrete can crack due to changes in temperature, chemical reactions, or any sort of mechanical force. Concrete is a composite of cement (lime, alumina, silica and iron oxides), water, and rock. When the components are mixed, they heat up. As cement dries, it cools and expands. If there’s no room to expand, then- crack! Mechanical forces such as earthquakes, explosions, or just natural settling may also crack concrete. But the cracks you cannot see with the naked eye are the slow-forming cracks caused by corrosion from the salts that are sprayed on roads to keep them from freezing. These are dangerous since they penetrate concrete over time and corrode concrete from the inside. Thus when you get concrete testing, there should be a chloride ion analysis included.

Concrete testing utilizes tools with electronic sensors to give you a picture of what’s happening within the concrete. A concrete test hammer is held perpendicular to concrete face and the force of impact of a plunger is measured. The amount of rebound energy can be expostulated to give an idea of the concrete composition. Even thick walls can be measured with these tools.

Other concrete testing includes carbonization. This is the natural corrosion that occurs when concrete is exposed to carbon dioxide in the air. Carbonized concrete must eventually be replaced.

Talk to your building contractor on what sorts of concrete testing services they provide. With regular testing, any catastrophic damage can be avoided early on. A good inspector will make a visual assessment as well as the above mentioned tests. They may even take samples for laboratory analysis.

For more information, please visit – http://www.apm-uk.com.