Masonry protection

The membrane, as it passes from the vessel body into the lining of the opening must be protected from thermal and mechanical damage in the same manner as in the membrane inside the vessel, and that masonry protection, such as a sleeve or brick lining, must be continuous and part of that same structure. 

Silicones are well known for their versatility, which makes them ideally suitable for a variety of applications. The fluids can be used as solvents, as foam-control systems, or as release agents (20% of the total volume). High-molecular-weight silicones are mainly used in mbber applications such as High Temperature Vulcanisable (HTV) and Room Temperature Vulcanisable (RTV) (43%), resins (4%), or specialties (15%). Other applications for silicones are masonry protection (8%), textiles (7%), and paper coatings (3%). Silicones can be uniquely tailored for each application area by substitution by reactive groups, allowing them to be cured by different mechanisms. 

Keywords silicone resin network, masonry protection, building material, natural stone impregnation, silicone coating of mineral substrates, structure-effect principle of trifunctional silicones... 

Organosilicones enable major demands imposed on masonry protection to be fulfilled ... 

Alkali siliconates are obtained by highly alkaline condensation of methyltrimethoxysilane with potassium hydroxide. In the field of masonry protection, potassium methyl siliconates of general formula CH3Si(0H)20 are used predominantly for factory impregnation of building materials, but hardly ever nowadays for fafade treatment [16,25,27]. 

Building materials exposed to weathering are corroded by the action of atmospheric influences, especially water destruction is unavoidable in the long term. Water-repellent treatments can certainly not totally stop these harmful processes, but, given adequate envelopment and attachment to the substrate, nanoscale silicone resin networks can retard material decomposition because of their high durability. Since damage caused by hydrophobic measures can be virtually ruled out if the treatments are properly applied, the organosilicon compounds used in masonry protection will become more and more widely used. 

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