Epoxy Floor Screeds

Polymeric overlays are used on concrete pavements to protect them from dust, excessive wear, cracking, crazing, spalling and to provide an attractive appearance. These materials are applied on concrete pavements in the form of screeds, self-levelling material or floor coatings. Epoxies, polyurethanes and acrylics are commonly used, epoxies being the most commonly chosen. Table 1.4 gives the suitability of these materials for different environments. 

Self-leveling These are generally based on solvent-free epoxy and there are a number of proprietary products available. Generally, they are 3-8 mm thick, but if the base floor is too rough, it is advisable to first level this with a cement/resin screed. 

Epoxies have an excellent resistance to abrasion. The abrasion resistance of a particular system depends upon the type of formulation and conditions. For example coatings have the capacity to resist abrasion from rubber wheels, whereas screed floorings, repair mortar and self-levelling floors can resist thousands of cycles from steel wheels. 

Another important application of reactive resins is the production of resin-bonded screeds that, by virtue of their high mechanical and chemical stability, are used, for example, for industrial floors. One particular problem is the bonding of old concrete to new concrete, where peeling occurs because of the shrinkage of the new concrete layer. By applying intermediate layers of a suitable epoxy resin mortar, it is possible to establish permanent bonds with strengths greater than that of the concrete. 

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