A comparative investigation on the effectiveness of awax and a resin based curing compound as an alternate of water curing for concrete pavement slab

Abstract

In this study, the effectiveness of two easily available concrete curing compounds in the Indian construction Industry namely; wax and synthetic resinbased, in comparison with water cured cubes and beams specimens of a paving concrete of 39 MPa compressive strength and 4.5 MPa flexural strength at 28-day has been reported. The concrete specimens were cast and kept for curing under different conditions such as in water, in the sunlight, and under the sunshade. Two coats of curing compounds as per the manufacturer’s instruction were applied on the surfaces of the concrete specimens and put in the sunlight and under the sunshade. The compressive and the flexural strength in comparison with water cured concrete specimens were evaluated. The study has shown 12% lower compressive strength and about 7% lower flexural strength for concrete samples cured with resin-based curing compound than the water cured samples. The study also indicates a reduction in compressive and flexural strengths of about 33% and 11%, respectively for waxbased curing compound. Finally, the study shows an upper hand for the resin-based curing compound, however, neither of them has shown potential as an alternate for the conventional water curing.