Concrete is a strong material. It starts off as a malleable, liquid mixture that is poured into place. Once it starts to dry, cure, and set, it takes effort to compromise it. In many cases, concrete develops instabilities because of the earth shifting, inclement weather, or the unstoppable passage of time. Nevertheless, human innovation has found many ways to compete with the forces of nature and extend the life of concrete.
Epoxy coatings offer their strength to support concrete against exterior pressures. Manufacturers test their epoxies, measuring four different types of strength. In any application, epoxy coatings need to take a pounding, and they need to do it in a way that protects your concrete floor. What kind of strength does epoxy offer?
Compressive Strength
Compressive strength measures how well the epoxy can handle the weight put on top of it. Using a cylinder of their material, a manufacturer presses both sides of the cylinder toward each other, squishing the cylinder until it fails. A similar test is often performed on cylinders of concrete, to measure its compressive strength. Most versions of concrete have a compressive strength that averages around 3,000 psi (pounds per square inch). Epoxy coatings typically measure a compressive strength just under 10,000 psi. All that compressive strength is used as a barrier to protect your concrete floor.
Tensile Strength
Using a different cylinder of the same material, this strength test pulls at the top and bottom of the epoxy cylinder. This measures how well the epoxy gouges or upward displacement. With concrete, tensile strength typically measures out at about 10% of its compressive strength, so concrete with 3,000 psi compressive strength results in about 300lbs of tensile strength. For epoxy coatings, a compressive strength of 10,000 psi often has 3,500lbs tensile strength. That’s a significant increase on what your concrete alone can do!
Flexural Strength
If the ground shifts under the concrete, it could result in cracks or deformations. That could tear or twist your epoxy coating. How will your epoxy floor cope? The flexural strength test gauges an epoxy coating’s resistance to bending or being pulled apart from an indirect angle. Instead of pressing the 2 ends of the cylinder toward each other, or pulling them apart, both ends are supported with braces and a heavy load is attached to the middle. Flexural strength in epoxy coatings often measure about 5,000 psi.
Bond Strength
Once your epoxy floor is put in place, it’s important that it doesn’t flake away. Bond strength refers to how well the epoxy coatings adhere to the surface of the concrete. Epoxy manufacturers make sure their epoxy coating has a bond strength greater than its own tensile strength. If the bond strength of the epoxy is greater than the tensile strength of the concrete beneath, then any failure is from the concrete, not from the epoxy. This strength is measured under a specialized test from the American Concrete Institute.
The Acme of Concrete Improvement
At Nevada Custom Coatings, we use epoxy materials that you can rely on! Whatever pounding you put your floor through, your epoxy floor will be ready for more. Not only that, but we also make sure it looks spectacular while doing it, according to your own imaginative specifications! Look though our gallery to see how exquisite, functional, or personal we can make your epoxy floor look. Then, schedule a free onsite consultation. Let us show you how to empower your concrete floor with the strength of epoxy coatings!