NEW GENERATION NANOTECHNOLOGY FOR THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

INTRODUCTION
It has always been the endeavor of mankind, consciously or unconsciously, to search for that
which if needed to be expressed in a single word, shall be called Security. And from its search
for this sublime concept called Security, man was encouraged to explore various methods of
construction starting from early ages, till todays modernized global society.
Though extensive advancement in construction technologies has taken place, however, in last
few decades the rate of growth that this industry saw has posed serious questions in terms of
availability of quality raw materials that is essential for a construction to have a long &
dependable useful service life. The limiting resources of earth cannot suffice for this rate of
growth versus the rate of depreciation that has surfaced due to several nations growing
together at a fast pace towards urbanization. Most of the construction materials that are being
used today and consumed in enormous quantities, after completion of its service life does not
remain by nature, recyclable. The speed at which depletion of these resources are taking place
demands serious attention towards finding ways and techniques to mitigate this threat by
implementing innovative solutions that can keep structures healthy and long-lasting.
While it is an inherent nature of humans to look for newer ways and means to accomplish
intended goals, it is important to keep in mind that this new way must be a way, which is more
efficient. Here efficiency need not only be judged in monetary terms, but it would require
encompassing a larger viewpoint from which it requires an evaluation. Does it ensure long term
dependability? Is it affordable to a larger mass of population or capable of only servicing a
selected class? At what ease the adaptability of this technology is possible for the end user?
Most importantly, how friendly is it with nature that comprises of humans surrounded by an
eco-system? We always must analyze a technology pondering upon these parameters of
sustainability, affordability, adaptability and eco/user friendliness, while evaluating its true
efficiency for the society.
As we venture now, to understand an innovative invention in context to habitable structures, it
would at the outset become essential to understand what causes their ageing. What results in
disintegration of these strong walls that we build to protect ourselves to provide us security?
HOW/WHY CONCRETE AGES/CRACKS?
Simplistically speaking, it is evident for a causal onlooker that more cracks surfacing over any
concrete structure endorsers its degeneration. Thus, let us understand the various factors that
influence the life of a concrete structure.

The first apparent sign that displays ageing of concrete is the visibility of a crack on a concrete
structure. Causes that attribute to appearance of a crack can be divided into two time zones,
Pre-construction and Post-construction (shown in fig. 1).

FIG. - 1

Till the time a structure gets completely erected, can be termed as the Pre-construction time
zone. During this period, conceptualizing and meticulous engineering, procurement of quality
raw materials and synchronized construction process gets implemented. These are the basic
deciding factors that shall affect the integrity of the structure and its consequential fate.
But, even structures that are well designed and systematically constructed with best quality
materials does age and crack. This is attributed to changes taking place within the concrete
which can be either, physical (dimensional) and/or chemical by nature, at the same time they
are co-operational.
Physical (Dimensional) Changes:
After completion of construction, during the initial years, there are certain almost inevitable
occurrences that one can be sure of, which shall result in cracking in limited surface areas.

The following physical (dimensional) changes are experienced by a structure during its lifetime:
a) Shrinkage Cracks Typically the process of hydration (chemical reaction between
cement and water) completes 90-95% in first 28 days (typical setting time of concrete).
Some part of it though, continues in the subsequent years result in volumetric shrinkage
of the structure due to consumption of the trapped moisture within it. This
phenomenon results in appearance of plastic shrinkage cracks within first few years of
construction, till the structure stabilizes.
b) Thermal Cracks Such cracks develop due to differential expansion and contraction of
several elements that are incorporated within a concrete structure. The cement paste,
coarse and fine aggregates, steel rebar, etc. each one has a different coefficient of
thermal expansion when subjected to changes in the atmospheric temperature, which
induces internal stresses and induces surface cracks in limited areas.
Both the above stated phenomenon can be controlled (reduced) considerably, if not completely
eliminated, by appropriate designing, selection of proper raw materials and following a
methodical system of construction. However, since such effects cannot be eliminated
completely they must be attended periodically as a part of routine maintenance plan, as these
cracks are the potential entry points for external environmental elements to penetrate inside a
structure.
Chemical Changes:
Water, while on one hand sustains life and nurtures the nature; on the other it also acts as the
most destructive element that has the power to disintegrate matter back to its elemental form.
Construction materials, by nature, are water-loving. Whether it is soil or cement plaster or
bricks or RCC it has a tendency to absorb water. Such ingress of water inside concrete results in
various chemical changes within a structure that eventually results in its degeneration and
ageing. Some of these detrimental chemical reactions are:
1) ASR (Alkali Silica Reaction) One of the most important chemical reactions that take
place in an alkaline environment within the concrete with its fine or coarse aggregates is
ASR. This result in conversion of the amorphous silica to a gel form which not only
creates internal stresses within the structure due to volumetric expansion but also acts
as reservoirs due to its inherent tendency to absorb water.
2) Carbonation Sometimes also referred as the corrosion of concrete, is a chemical
reaction occurring between calcium hydroxide present inside the cement with Carbonic
acid (formed by reaction of atmospheric carbon dioxide with moisture/water). This
results in formation of Calcium Carbonate (Chalk) and free water. Even though this
transformation forms a compound that has significant compressive strength, it reduces

the pH environment (state of passivity) within concrete, making the rebar more prone
corrosion.
3) Acid Attack Due to fast pace urban development and increasing industrial emissions
the atmosphere contains a large reserve of SOx and NOx pollutants. These combine with
moisture in the atmosphere (clouds) to form various acids, like, Sulphuric/Sulfurous
acids, Nitric/Nitrous acids, etc. Upon coming in contact with concrete during rains, it
results in acid-alkali reactions, which result in breakdown of the crystalline lime within
concrete.
4) Freeze-Thaw In colder regions, due to atmospheric temperature dropping to subzero
levels, water trapped inside concrete expands while it freezes. This causes internal
stresses and such repeated cycles cause cracking and eventually spalling of concrete
chunks, thus, disintegrating the structure.
5) Rebar Corrosion Water ingress into concrete acts as an electrolyte resulting in ionic
exchange between Iron Rebar and Oxygen. This result in corrosion of the rebar, causing
reduction in its internal strength and at the same time physical swelling of the rebar.
A closer look will reveal to us that ALL the above five concerns are mainly due to entry of
water through the labyrinth of micro and nano-size pores inside a concrete structure.
However, apart from these, water absorption by a concrete structure primarily starts with
deterioration of its aesthetic value due to fungus formation; inducing efflorescence;
attracting dirt on the surface and causing paint peel off due to repeated dry & wet cycles.
HOW WATER ENTERS INSIDE CONCRETE?

FIG. - 2

Now let us understand what this phenomenon through which water enters inside concrete is.
Fig. 2 depicts the pore size range of most building materials that are commonly used by todays
construction industry. As we can see that although concrete is porous in nature, yet the pore
sizes are much larger than size of a smallest water droplet (Size of a water drop when in a cloud
is 1,00,000 nm or 0.1 mm). What then results in further break down of this water drop so as to
make it penetrate inside the concrete?
Concrete, Bricks, Soil, Sand, Fly Ash, etc., most of all building materials are siliceous, having high
content of silicates. Silica being one of the most stable materials is ideal for construction due to
retention of its molecular integrity when subjected to long term weathering conditions of
fluctuating temperatures, UV rays, humidity and physical forces.
Though internally silica is strongly bound together by polar covalent bonding of Si-O-Si, each
particle of silica at its outer periphery contains a hydroxyl ion (as shown in Fig.3). This hydroxyl
ion when comes in contact with water, forms a hydrogen bond with the water molecule,
resulting in an energy release which breaks the water droplet into smaller parts. This spread of
surface hydroxyl ions at the surface breaks down the natural water drop into extremely tiny
parts so as it gets sucked within, into the micro and nano pores of the concrete. This
phenomenon, with naked eyes, we witness as the absorption of water over siliceous substrates.

FIG. - 3

HISTORY OF SILANE
In second half of the last century, as Silicon was discovered and found its wide acceptance in
the consumer market, its Silane derivatives were used in developing composite materials. This
was due to its inherent capability to bond well with both organic as well as inorganic materials.
It helped in imparting strength to organic formulations by reinforcing them with inorganic
fillers, where Silane would act as a coupling agent.

During this period, introduction of organosilane chemicals for treatment of siliceous building
materials in order to attain water resistivity became popular with the mass production of
Silicon and its augmentative byproducts. Even though they did address the purpose, it lacked
focused research in terms of providing a solution that is, long-term, easy to use, affordable and
eco-friendly. Most formulations that were marketed required skilled manpower and protective
surveillance due to inflammability and high VOC content of the materials, which also attracted
high end user costs. It was more like finding a use for these Silane formulations that invariably
will be obtained as an obvious byproduct during mass production of a variety of silicon
materials, rather than developing an effective and efficient solution through dedicated research
for protection of siliceous building materials against water ingress.
NEW GENERATION PENETRATIVE ORGANOSILANE TECHNOLOGY
The New Generation Organosilane is a blessed technological breakthrough that has addressed
almost all issues that prevented widespread use of the Silane technology for mass
consumption. The salient features of this new formulation are:

Long Useful Service Life (UV stability upto 20 years)

Water Dilutable 20 times its volume (cutting transportation cost)
Easy to Apply (colloquially speaking, is Idiot-proofed, eliminating misapplication)
Eco-friendly (Meets the toughest Californian VOC norms)
Affordable (Can be even considered for Low-cost Mass housing)

HOW SILANE NANOTECHNOLOGY WORKS?

Silane, in itself is a synonym for Nanotechnology (meaning that the molecule size of this
material is always smaller than 100 nm). Silicon in its smallest molecular form, that is, as a
monomer, would contain one atom of Silicon bonded with other elements to form a molecule.
In this state it is referred as Silane. When a few similar Silane molecules polymerize together to
form a slightly bigger molecule, it forms an oligomer, referred as Siloxane. As the degree of
polymerization increases they join together to form much larger size molecules that is known as
Silicon (shown in fig.4). Here it is important to understand that as the size of these molecules
change through polymerization, their combined physiochemical property also completely

changes. When the surface area to volume ratio crosses beyond a certain limit, a material does
not any more follow the principals of classical physics. It falls within the purview of quantum
physics. Which is why, similar materials but constituted with different size of molecules shall
display different characteristics. Thus, for common knowledge, Silane, Siloxane and Silicon
should not be misconstrued as one, even though they all are made up of similar fashioned
silicon atoms.

FIG. - 4

A Silicon atom (Atomic no. 14; Electronic configuration 2, 8, 4) due to the presence of four
valence electrons shall make four bonds. Based on the functionality of these bonds, they are
termed as, mono-functional, bi-functional, tri-functional or tetra-functional. The new
generation organosilane molecule comprises of an alkylalkoxy structure where one is an alkyl
group long chain organic molecule (referred as R in the figure below). The rest of the three
belong to alkoxy groups which when in contact with siliceous substrates, like, concrete, bricks,
soil, plaster, etc. replaces the hydroxyl (OH) ion at the surface and bonds the Silane molecule to
the substrate. As these three groups bonds with the substrate, the non-functional R group acts
as an umbrella providing a hydrophobic nano layer over the surface. The structure of this long
chain organic hydrophobic R group (4 / 8 / 12 / 16 Carbon) is well researched in order to make
it long lasting against UV rays and wind driven torrential rains.

The reaction with the substrate is shown below in a simplified manner; however, it usually
takes place in two steps. First, the alkoxy group hydrolyses to form a Silanol (Si-OH) group
separating away the alkoxy (X-OH) element, and then the hydrolyzed Silane reacts with the
substrate to permanently bond with it forming a Si-O-Si bond.
Reaction with Substrate
=Si-OH
=Silanols

OH-Si---

=Si-O-Si---

Substrate

Siloxane bond

H2O
Water

The treatment results in a permanent polarity change of the surface turning its nature from
hydrophilic to hydrophobic. A pictorial depiction is shown below in FIG. 5.

FIG. - 5

LIFE EXPECTATION
Apart from the chemistry, nanotechnology also has a major size advantage. Since the molecular
size of this organosilane ranges from 4 6 nm, it can actually penetrate into the smallest pores,
micro and nano cracks of the building surface. As we have seen earlier that the pores size of
building materials range from 5 2000 nm (as shown in fig. 2), a molecule size as small as 4
6 nm ensures penetration into the substrate resulting in forming successive layers of nano
molecules, that prevents ingress on water inside the structure.

Since the life of any water ingress prevention technology has a major concern with respect to
its stability against UV rays, this nanotechnology again stands apart from existing conventional
systems. The formulation is tested against UV and is estimated to have a stability of 20 years,
however, another logic says that the most detrimental UV ray (around the wavelength of 300
nm) photons only travel in a straight line. They cannot take a curvaceous path that is taken by
liquids, like, water. This tells us that only the surface molecules of the reacted organosilane
shall get affected by the UV exposure. Molecules that has penetrated and bonded 0.5 1mm
deep inside the surface, shall remain unaffected. By this logic, a treatment with nanotechnology
organosilane has a potential to protect a concrete structure for 100 years (considering a widely
accepted erosive loss of 0.1mm per decade and that the surface has been saturated enough
resulting in a 1mm deep reactive transformation of the substrate).
WHERE TO USE?
Waterproofing in todays context has a simple definition and in most cases the approach is
COVER-IT-UP. We cover up the concrete with various available materials striking a balance
between availability and affordability; while always ending up with this COVER deteriorating
(cracking, disbonding, peeling, etc.) resulting in water ingress into the structure. While it is Ok
to continue this approach, less has been done to extend the useful service life of these coverups. Through penetrative nanotechnology the basic nature of the structure needs to be
changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic. This shall result in significant extension of life of
these cover-ups, like, paints & membranes and shall provide us optimum resource
preservation.
ALL areas of a concrete structure that shall see direct water should be pre-treated with this
penetrative nanotechnology before over-coating with paints/waterproofing membranes. Even

soil can be treated at the foundation base before pouring of PCC to give additional stability
against settlement.
APPLICATION & TESTS:
As mentioned earlier, the technology has been designed to be almost idiot-proof, application
is as simple as, diluting the Silane chemical by 20 times its volume, with potable water. Spraying
this solution on the surface to be treated till it stops absorbing any more water. This normally is
achieved by spraying 3-4 rounds within a gap of 30-60 seconds, till we see the water dripping
down over the surface. This application needs to be followed by allowing complete drying of
the substrate naturally, till all the moisture gets fully evaporated out.

RILEM tests can be carried out on the treated surfaces in order to test achievement of complete
water insulation on the treated areas. Also, a Scratch test to check the depth of penetration can
be done on a treated surface wherever acceptable.
EPILOGUE
This New Generation Organosilane is a revolutionary invention that can redefine sustainability
of structures, construction materials, paints and waterproofing membranes and extend the
useful service life of the valuable resources extracted from mother earth, thus, preserving a
more likable earth for the future generations to come.
Authored by:

Anupam Shil, MTech

DGM Technical Services
anupamshil@zydexindutries.com
+91-84695 22233
For more information, visit www.zydexindustries.com

Under Guidance from:

Prakash Mehta, PhD

President Silane & Silicon Division