Durabilité au gel-dégel et résistance à l'écaillage des pavés de béton

Abstract

Tests results described in this paper show that it is quite easy to produce concrete paving blocks with excellent resistance to freezing–thawing cycles in water. Good resistance to frost-associated scaling in the presence of deicing salts is, however, much more difficult to obtain; and the problem is particularly difficult to analyse because two types of tests gave very different results. A freezing test in the presence of a saline solution (ASTM C672) showed positive influence of certain parameters (such as finer material), but freezing tests in a brine bath (ACNOR CAN3 A231.2 M85) did not show influence of any variable. In addition, the high number of compacting voids made it very difficult to interpret measurements of air-void characteristics made by examining ground sections under an optical microscope (ASTM C457). Key words: concrete paving blocks, scaling resistance, deicing salts, freezing–thawing cycles, air-void spacing factor. [Journal translation]