Surface Treatment for Concrete Durability: Progress and Perspective

Abstract

Concrete structures are widely applied in transportation, municipal and other civil‑infrastructure projects. Under long‑term service, coupled complex environmental factors such as chloride ingress, carbonation, microbially induced corrosion, freeze‑thaw and wet‑dry cycles will induce serious deterioration including reinforcement corrosion and concrete cracking, which gradually degrades structural durability. Featuring easy construction, wide adaptability and favorable protective performance, surface treatment serves as a key technique to improve concrete durability and extend service life. This paper systematically summarizes main deterioration mechanisms of concrete structures, and reviews the mechanisms, performance features and global research advances of four typical surface‑treatment technologies: surface coating, hydrophobic impregnation, pore‑blocking treatment and multifunctional surface treatment. By physically blocking aggressive media ingress, optimizing pore network, building hydrophobic interfaces and realizing multi‑mechanism synergy, these treatments restrain corrosive‑agent transport and mitigate deterioration of steel reinforcement and cement matrix. Literature review reveals that nano‑composite modification, smart self‑healing technology, super‑hydrophobic functionalization and eco‑friendly low‑carbon formulations represent major developing trends for advanced concrete surface treatment. Future research shall focus on degradation‑failure mechanisms under realistic complex service conditions, long‑term durability assessment and synergistic mechanisms of multi‑functional systems, so as to provide solid theoretical support and practical guidance for optimized protective design and engineering application of high‑durability concrete structures.