Chemical
agents (organic and inorganic salts) are used
in the Greenseal range of cementitious waterproofing
products. These require the presence of water
to react with oxides of, for instance calcium,
aluminium, iron and others, to form large complex
molecules. The ions all having one or more free
chemical bonds interact with each other, or
with other complex ions, to produce a long chained
complex chemical bond which then crystallizes
in the concrete's capilliary system.
These molecular complexes are capable of
bonding physically or chemically with considerable
amounts of water. However, they still allow
the passage of water vapour, thus allowing
the concrete to breathe.
The complexes are also capable of exchanging
atom groups with nearby molecules in a similar
way to ion exchange used in water softeners
and can in this way penetrate through the
capilliaries, deep into the substrate. Here
they react as just described with calcium
oxides and hydroxides also popularly called
'Free Lime'.
The Greenseal formed crystals will remain
in the concrete and at any later time under
attack by water, the crystallization process
will continue.
