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Hycrete is a concrete addition based on water that is used to counter rust and corrosion. It was developed by the eponymous American company Hycrete and is certified as a Cradle to Cradle nutrient. Because of the water repelling properties the placement of water repelling materials after pouring hycrete is not needed anymore.

Structure
The anti-corrosive properties yielded in concrete mixed with Hycrete is owed to its structure. The additive present in the concrete on the molecular level is an alkali-based salt of dioic acid(See diagram). The additive structure consists of two pairs of side groups. The first pair are labeled R1 and R2 on the diagram to the right, each is a long chain-like hydrocarbon behaving like a petroleum substance to repel water. The chain-like structures span the inside of capillaries within the concrete forming a consistent waterproofing throughout the concrete. The other pair of side groups are labeled M+ on the diagram to the right; that end is terminated with a group 1A element (probably Na+ or K+). This end of the molecule is polar and tends to bond with the steel rebar within the concrete. That bond forms a membrane-like layer around the steel to provide focused corrosion protection around the steel.



However the additive is mixed into the concrete side by side a defoaming agent as a method of reducing the amount of air trapped within the concrete during pouring and curing. The structure of this agent consists of a tri-alkane or tri-alkene phosphate as pictured in the diagram to the right. Each side group labeled R# is a short hydrocarbon chain, meaning the molecule is small and keeps the concrete dense and more airtight and further reduces water retention.

Properties
Hycrete based concrete is engineered for a single purpose, anti-corrosive properties. Hycrete is an “Integral Waterproofing & Corrosion Protection Solution” meaning, the protection offered by the material is present throughout the entire slab of concrete. Traditional methods of waterproofing require petroleum based membranes be sprayed in a layer of the outside of the concrete; Hycrete as an additive to concrete is present throughout the entire mixture. Because the Hycrete based concrete no longer needs these membranes, many construction projects prefer Hycrete for the time it saves costing approximately the same amount of money.

Time Efficient
Regular concrete requires a protective membrane to repel water and corrosives. This barrier is time consuming because it has to be added to after the concrete is poured. Hycrete admixtures help by taking this membrane step out of the picture. Instead of adding a membrane after the concrete is poured the admixture is added before the concrete is poured. This saves time for construction and cost approximately the same amount.

Important Waterproofing
When construction projects require maximum waterproofing, both hycrete admixtures and membranes are used. The hycrete helps keep the internal concrete waterproof and the membrane helps waterproofs the surface of the concrete.

Green Structures
Membranes are environmentally unfriendly and the concrete used cannot be recycled. Hycrete admixtures on the other hand also keep the concrete waterproof, but there is no membrane to remove so hycrete concrete can also be recycled.

Temporary Structures
Due to hycrete’s time efficiency and recycliability construction projects that require temporary structures would benefit from both of these attributes. Construction companies will save time on site and also are able to recycle the materials that they already have used.

Durable Structures
Due to hycrete’s waterproofing and corrosion inhibition this prevents water from entering the concrete and creating cracks from freeze-thaw. The corrosion inhibition helps by preventing corrosive salts from rusting the steel rebar. These properties help keep internal strength by preventing rebar corrosion and also prevent external cracks from forming. This makes hycrete a very durable concrete.

Infrastructure
Due to hycretes high durability and waterproof properties, hycrete would be a great material for the infrastructure. This would increase the life of many roads and bridges therefore saving money.

Marine Structures
Marine structures endures a lot of abuse from both water and wind. Hycrete helps with its high durability and waterproofing properties.

Decorative Concrete
Hycrete prevents surface cracks and crumbling. This helps keep the concrete smooth and also prevents water staining.

Absorption
Hydrophobic concrete guidelines require that the concrete absorbs less than 1% water. When tested under the absorption test hycrete performs at 0.4%-0.9% water absorbtion.

Self-Healing of Cracks
Concrete can self-heal its own cracks. Sound waves were used to test the efficiency of this selfhealing in both a cracked hycrete concrete block and a cracked control concrete block. Sound waves travel faster in uncracked concrete than they do in cracked concrete. As cracks heal, velocity of the sound waves will increase and become closer to the measured velocity of sound waves in uncracked concrete. Hycrete was found to be much more efficient at selfhealing its cracks. The velocity of the sound waves for hycrete increased at faster rate compared to the control.

Corrosion Protection of Steel in Concrete
To measure hycretes corrosion protection, a hycrete concrete slab was compared to a control concrete slab. Both slabs were soaked in corrosive salts for four days and then dried for three days. This process was repeated for four years and the results found hycrete concrete to have a better protection against corrosion compared to the control concrete. Another test was conducted by placing rebar in a six percent hycrete and sodium chloride mixture. The control was rebar in a sodium chloride mixture without any admixtures. The rebar were in the solution for 28 days at a pH of 13. The hycrete rebar had no damage while the control had a 0.11% steel loss.

Corrosion on Metals
Hycrete has been tested to evaluate its effectiveness in preventing corrosion on metals. Many different types of metals were used. The metals were placed in a solution with corrosive salts and Hycrete for 336 hours at 88ºC. The metals that did not show any damage were copper, solder, brass, steel, and iron.

Awards

 * 2010 GoingGreen East – Top 50 Private Companies.
 * New Jersey Technology Council – Best electronics and advanced materials Company of 2009.
 * World Economic Forum – Technology Pioneer 2008
 * AlwaysOn Going Green: 2008 Top 100
 * EcoWorld 2007 Clean Dozen Companies
 * New Jersey Technology Council – Best Advanced Materials and Nano Technologies Company of the Year – 2005
 * Cradle to Cradle Certified – Silver
 * NSF 61 Certified