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Article

A Study on the Hydrophobicity and Icephobicity of Modified Cement-Based Composite Coatings for Anti-/De-Icing of Guardrail Concrete

by
Jianping Gao
1,
Pan Zhou
1,*,
Xianlong Shi
2,
Kang Gu
3,
Hongji Chen
3,
Qian Yang
4 and
Zhengwu Jiang
3
1
School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, China
2
Guizhou Daowu Highway Construction Co., Ltd., Guiyang 550001, China
3
Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
4
Guizhou Hongxin Chuangda Engineering Detection & Consultation Co., Ltd., Guiyang 550014, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Buildings 2025, 15(13), 2263; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15132263
Submission received: 26 May 2025 / Revised: 18 June 2025 / Accepted: 26 June 2025 / Published: 27 June 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Cement-Based Materials and Low-Carbon Construction Technologies)
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Versions Notes

Abstract

Guardrail concrete in cold regions frequently suffers from corrosion due to icing and solutions, significantly shortening the service life of the guardrail. This paper proposed a cement-based composite coating for concrete protection. The hydrophobic agent was synthesized using nano-silica, tetraethyl orthosilicate and perfluorodecyltrimethoxysilane and used for coating modification as an additive or by impregnation. Also, a commercial hydrophobic agent was used for comparison. The modified coating was characterized by wettability, mechanical properties, chemical stability and icephobicity tests. The results showed that the coating prepared with the synthetic hydrophobic agent presented a higher contact angle than that prepared with the commercial one during the above tests. Moreover, it featured excellent icephobicity by effectively delaying the time of icing on concrete and reducing the icing mass and ice adhesion strength. In addition, the hydrophobic agent used by impregnation was a better choice for concrete surface protection. Chemical composition and morphology analysis of the coating showed that hydrophobicity and icephobicity were mainly attributed to F-containing functional groups and rough structure with low surface energy. This study provided an application potential of modified cement-based composite coating for anti-/de-icing of guardrail concrete.

1. Introduction

Concrete is the most widely used construction and building material in the world [1,2,3]. It has an abundant source of raw materials, high strength, low cost and good durability [4]. Therefore, concrete structures have become the most used type of structure in infrastructure projects [5,6]. The durability of concrete can be affected by various factors, including solution corrosion, pressure, temperature and moisture [7,8,9]. For highway construction in mountainous areas, most of the guardrails are manufactured from concrete for traffic safety. However, mountainous areas lead to a complicated service environment for guardrail concrete [10,11]. For a better quality of highway construction, it is urgent to find an approach to improve the durability of guardrail concrete.
Low temperature and solution corrosion are the two main problems that threaten the durability of guardrail concrete in mountainous areas [12,13,14]. The hardened concrete contains different scales of pores on the surface and within the inner areas. The presence of these pores provides space for the infiltration of water [15,16]. The suction effect caused by the capillaries in concrete further enhances the penetration of water [17,18]. Furthermore, the hydration reaction of cement brings more hydroxide radicals into the concrete. These radicals are identified as hydrophilic groups to enhance the hydrophilic characteristic of concrete [19,20]. As is well known, the temperature in mountainous areas is usually lower than flat areas due to the high altitude. The low temperature, especially in winter, will cause the concrete to freeze [21]. The conversion of water to ice leads to the presence of expansion stress in concrete and probably induces cracks [22,23]. Meanwhile, the ions such as Cl− and SO42− sourced from the surroundings are brought into the concrete by the solution [24,25]. These ions can react with C-S-H gel or portlandite to weaken the skeleton of the concrete, thereby lowering its mechanical strength [26]. And for reinforced concrete, the solution also accelerates the corrosion of the reinforcement steel and further leads to damage to the concrete structure [27,28]. On snowy days in winter, de-icing salts are often used to rapidly clear the highway. The resulting solution containing ions from the de-icing salts results in more serious corrosion in guardrail concrete. Moreover, the combined effects of solution corrosion and icing significantly shorten the service life of guardrail concrete [29].
As mentioned above, the degradation of guardrail concrete is closely related to the composition and form of water within concrete. Meanwhile, concrete is a type of hydrophilic material. Therefore, one of the solutions to improve the durability of concrete is to prevent the concrete from contacting water. Based on this, coating the concrete is found to be an effective method without affecting its inherent properties [30,31]. The traditional inorganic coating was a cement-based material prepared from cement and sand [32]. It presented a high mechanical performance and a good bonding strength with concrete. The presence of the coating hindered the infiltration of water, thereby improving the durability of the concrete. However, water can still enter the concrete through the coating with a longer service time due to the hydrophilicity of cement-based coating. Hence, organic coatings with hydrophobicity were involved in concrete protection [33]. The organic coatings modified the surface energy and roughness of concrete to prevent the infiltration of water [34]. The commonly used organic coatings for concrete were resin and silane coatings [35,36,37]. These coatings presented excellent hydrophobicity or even super-hydrophobicity, but they were prone to abrasion. Cement is known to have a good resistance to abrasion. Therefore, cement-based composite coatings were proposed by the researchers with the combination of inorganic and organic materials in order to leverage their advantages [38]. However, it is difficult to deal with the poor compatibility between cement and organic materials. Furthermore, the literature on anti-/de-icing performance of cement-based composite coatings is still limited.
In our previous study [39], a modified composite coating was synthesized using nano-silica, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and 1H,1H,2H,2H-Perfluorodecyltrimethoxysilane (PFDTS). This coating featured a satisfying super-hydrophobicity and excellent mechanical and chemical stability at ambient temperature and even after cryogenic treatment. This indicated that this coating was a promising material for concrete protection, especially for concrete used in cold regions. However, when it came to the cost of production, the cost to produce this coating was much higher compared to that of commercial coatings. As a result, the large-scale application of this coating in guardrail concrete during highway construction was still restricted. The incorporation of cement-based materials into the modified composite coating will largely reduce the cost of production, but whether the cement-based composite coating can maintain satisfying properties needs further investigation. Also, for guardrail concrete in mountainous areas, icephobicity is an important factor that should be taken into consideration [40]. The icephobicity of the coating was reported to be closely related to its hydrophobicity. However, there is a lack of research on the icephobicity of this modified composite coating.
Therefore, this paper aims to prepare a cement-based composite coating for anti-/de-icing of guardrail concrete. The synthetic hydrophobic agent was incorporated into the cement-based material as an additive and by impregnation to prepare coatings for concrete. The performance of the coating was characterized by wettability, mechanical properties, chemical stability and icephobicity tests, along with X-ray photoelectron spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy. It is hoped that the findings of this study can guide the application of modified cement-based composite coatings for the protection of guardrail concrete in mountainous areas.

2. Experiments

2.1. Raw Materials

In this study, anhydrous ethanol, nano-silica, ammonia (5%), tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and 1H,1H,2H,2H-Perfluorodecyltrimethoxysilane (PFDTS) were used in the synthesis of a hydrophobic agent. For a better comparison, a commercial silane hydrophobic agent was also used in this study. Meanwhile, Portland cement (P·O 42.5) and quartz sand with a particle size of 70–100 mesh were used to prepare the cement-based composite coating.

2.2. Preparation of Cement-Based Composite Coatings

The cement-based composite coatings were prepared by mixing two types of hydrophobic agent, including synthetic and commercial hydrophobic agents. To synthesize the hydrophobic agent, anhydrous ethanol (30 mL), deionized water (20 mL), ammonia water (5 mL) and nano-silica (0.3 g) were added to the beaker successively and stirred magnetically at room temperature for 30 min. Then, TEOS (3 mL) was added into the beaker and stirred magnetically for another 30 min. Afterwards, PFDTS (1 mL) was added and stirred at room temperature for 24 h. At the end of stirring, the hydrophobic agent was obtained.
After the hydrophobic agents were prepared, the cement-based composite coatings were subsequently prepared. Table 1 shows the parameters of raw materials to prepare cement-based composite coatings. As can be seen, four groups of coatings were prepared to study the effects of different types and usages on their properties. The concrete base for the coatings was C30 concrete with the size of 70.7 mm × 70.7 mm × 70.7 mm. For the hydrophobic agent used as an additive, the hydrophobic agent was mixed with the cement, sand and water to obtain the coating material. After the mixing process, the coating material was brushed onto the surface of concrete specimens. For the hydrophobic agent used by impregnation, the cement, sand and water were first mixed to obtain the fresh slurry. Afterwards, the slurry was brushed onto the surface of concrete specimens. The hydrophobic agent was diluted with ethanol, followed by ultrasonic dispersion for 10 min. After the slurry was hardened, the concrete specimens were impregnated into the pretreated hydrophobic agents. Triplicate concrete samples with cement-based composite coating were prepared for the following tests.

2.3. Wettability Test

The wettability of cement-based composite coatings at room temperature was characterized with the help of an optical contact angle instrument (Dataphysics OCA20, Beijing, China). Once the water dropped from the dropper onto the surface of coated concrete samples, the contact angle between the drops of water and the coatings was captured by the instrument. More than 3 points were selected from the surface of each sample for the wettability test, and the average contact angle was obtained.

2.4. Mechanical Properties

The mechanical properties of these coatings were estimated by sandpaper abrasion tests. Sandpaper with 600 grit was first placed on the table. Then, the coated concrete samples were put onto the sandpaper with their coated side in contact with the sandpaper. A 200 g weight was added on top of samples to apply pressure. Afterwards, the sandpaper was alternately moved in the horizontal and vertical directions for 10 cm at a constant rate of 1 cm/s. This was taken as a cycle to calculate the abrasion distance of the samples. The contact angle of the coatings after sandpaper abrasion was also captured by the aforementioned instrument. The loss of contact angle after sandpaper abrasion was used to evaluate the mechanical properties of the coatings.

2.5. Chemical Stability

The chemical stability of these coatings was estimated after different solution immersion. The cement-based composite coatings were immersed in HCl solution (0.1 mol/L), NaOH solution (0.1 mol/L) and NaCl solution (1 mol/L), respectively, for 24 h. The contact angle of the coatings after solution immersion was also captured by the aforementioned instrument. The loss of contact angle after solution immersion was used to evaluate the chemical stability of the coatings.

2.6. Icephobicity Evaluation

The icephobicity of these coatings was evaluated by time of icing delay, icing mass and ice adhesion strength tests. To measure the time of icing delay, concrete samples with and without coatings were placed in a freezer at −20 °C for 2 h. Afterwards, water dyed with methyl blue was dropped on the surface of the samples. The color and state of the water droplets on the surface of the samples were recorded by taking photos at regular intervals. The color of the water droplets disappeared, and the opacity was used as a sign to judge the freezing of the water droplets. The time from the drop to the freezing of water was taken as the time of icing delay.
The icing mass of the concrete samples was tested by the self-made apparatus in the laboratory. The apparatus was placed in an incubator at 1 °C for 2 h for pre-cooling. Afterwards, the temperature of the incubator was set to −5 °C. When the temperature became stable, the drip valve was opened with a flow rate of 1 drop per second. The mass of the concrete samples was weighed every 2 min, and the mass increment before and after the testing was taken as the icing mass.
To measure the ice adhesion strength, silastic molds with a size of 20 mm × 20 mm × 20 mm were filled with water. Afterwards, these silastic molds were placed in contact with the surface of concrete samples with and without coatings and transferred to the freezer at −25 °C for 3 h. This helped to form the ice adhesion between the surface of cubic ice and concrete samples. The dynamometer was used to push the ice off the surface of the samples, and the de-icing force divided by the contact area was used to calculate ice adhesion strength.

2.7. Characterization of Coatings

The coatings selected for the concrete samples were used for further characterization. The chemical compositions of the coatings were studied with an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (ESCALAB 250Xi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA) and a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific Nicolet iS5, Madison, WI, USA). The morphology of the coatings was observed with a scanning electron microscope (ZEISS GeminiSEM 300, Oberkochen, Germany).

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Chemical Composition and Coating Morphology

Figure 1 shows the XPS spectra of cement-based composite coatings. As seen in the figure, the peaks of O 1s, Ca 2p, C 1s, Si 2s and Si 2p were all observed in the coating samples, illustrating that these coatings contained the elements including O, Ca, C and Si. It can be seen in Figure 1b,d that the peak intensity of C 1s in C-I was obviously higher than that in C-A. This suggested that the effect of the silane hydrophobic agent on coatings was different when it was used as an additive from when it was used for impregnation. However, the peaks of F 1s at 689 eV were only detected in the coatings prepared by the synthetic hydrophobic agent, as shown in Figure 1a,c. This was attributed to the incorporation of PFDTS in the hydrophobic agent [41]. In addition, the peak intensity of F 1s in S-I was obviously higher than that in S-A. This indicated that there was a difference in the condensation reaction degree of TEOS and PFDTS between the coatings prepared with the synthetic hydrophobic agent used as an additive and used for impregnation. For further investigation, FTIR spectra of these cement-based composite coatings are given in Figure 2. The peaks at 3456 cm−1 were attributed to the stretching of -OH groups, and the peaks at 1097 cm−1 were attributed to the antisymmetric tensile vibration of the Si-O-Si group [42]. The peak intensity at 1097 cm−1 was obviously noticed in S-A, S-I and C-I except C-A. This indicated that hydrophobic agents used for impregnation were effectively grafted to the surface of the coatings. Moreover, the synthetic hydrophobic agent could maintain its hydrophobicity when it was used as an additive to prepare cement-based composite coating.
The morphology of cement-based composite coatings is shown in Figure 3. At the magnification of 200× in Figure 3a, the morphology of S-A was more homogeneous compared to that of C-A. Meanwhile, more micro-pores were observed in C-A than in S-A. This indicated that the synthetic hydrophobic agent presented a better compatibility with cement mortar than the commercial silane hydrophobic agent when it was used as an additive. The morphology of S-I was similar to that of C-I. In addition, the coatings prepared with hydrophobic agents used for impregnation presented a much rougher surface than those prepared with hydrophobic agents used as an additive. At the magnification of 10,000× in Figure 3b, clusters of nano-silica particles were observed on the surface of the hydration products in S-A. The good distribution of these particles further confirmed the good compatibility between the synthetic hydrophobic agent and mortar paste [43,44]. However, the addition of commercial silane hydrophobic agent led to a more porous structure in C-A with net-like hydration products loosely interlaced with each other. When the coatings were prepared with hydrophobic agents used for impregnation, the microstructure tended to be more compact, and the surface roughness was significantly increased. For the coatings prepared with hydrophobic agents used as an additive, the hydrophobic agents were involved in the cement matrix. For the coatings prepared with hydrophobic agents used for impregnation, the hydrophobic agents were uniformly distributed on the mortar paste to enlarge the surface roughness. As compared to C-I, the surface of S-I was much rougher. Figure 4 further shows the elemental analysis of the morphology of the coatings prepared with a synthetic hydrophobic agent. The non-metallic elements detected from the surface of the hydration products were C, O, F and Si, which were consistent with the aforementioned results of XPS analysis.

3.2. Wettability

Figure 5 presents the wettability of cement-based composite coatings. It can be seen from the figure that the contact angle of the coatings from largest to smallest were in the following order: S-I > S-A > C-I > C-A. The coatings prepared with the synthetic hydrophobic agents presented a better hydrophobicity than those prepared with the commercial silane hydrophobic agents regardless of whether they were used as an additive or for impregnation. Moreover, the cement-based composite coatings prepared with hydrophobic agents used for impregnation had a larger contact angle than those prepared with a hydrophobic agent used as an additive. This illustrated that the hydrophobic agents used for impregnation represented a better method than using them as an additive to improve the hydrophobicity of the coatings. This was also consistent with the aforementioned SEM images shown in Figure 3, in which a rougher morphology with low surface energy was observed in S-I and C-I.

3.3. Mechanical Properties of Coatings

The mechanical properties of the coatings were evaluated by a sandpaper abrasion test, and the results are given in Figure 6. As seen from Figure 6a, the contact angles of S-A, S-I and C-I showed a decreasing trend with the increase in abrasion distance. This was mainly attributed to the loss in low surface energy of these coatings induced by the abrasion of sandpaper. However, the contact angle of C-A presented an opposite trend. This was probably due to the exposure of the new silane components from the inner part of the coating after the outer part was abraded by the sandpaper. These exposed silane components contributed to the hydrophobicity of the coating, but the hydrophobic effect was still limited. Although the contact angle of C-A exhibited an increase after sandpaper abrasion, it was much lower than those of S-A and S-I. The contact angles were 133°, 121°, 142° and 119° for S-A, C-A, S-I and C-I, respectively, after the abrasion distance reached 20 m. Furthermore, Figure 6b shows the loss rate of the contact angle before and after the 20 m abrasion test. It can be seen that the coatings prepared with hydrophobic agents used as an additive had a lower loss rate, indicating better mechanical properties. For the coatings impregnated by hydrophobic agents, those using a synthetic hydrophobic agent had a lower loss rate as well as much better mechanical properties.

3.4. Chemical Stability of Coatings

The cement-based composite coatings were immersed in different solutions to evaluate the chemical stability, and the experimental results are given in Figure 7. As seen in Figure 7a, all the coatings exhibited a decline in contact angle after they were immersed in HCl, NaOH and NaCl solutions. This illustrated that the hydrophobicity of these coatings was decreased under the corrosion of acid, alkali and salt solutions. Moreover, the acid solution had the most significant effect on lowering the hydrophobicity among the solutions. For a better comparison, the loss rate of contact angle for the coatings after solution immersion was calculated as shown in Figure 7b. After different solution immersion, the loss rates from largest to smallest were in the following order: C-A > S-A > C-I > S-I. The coatings prepared with hydrophobic agents by impregnation had a lower loss rate of contact angle than those prepared with hydrophobic agents used as an additive. This illustrated that the hydrophobic agents used for impregnation constituted a better method than those used as an additive to improve the chemical stability of coatings. Impregnation enabled hydrophobic agents to enter the pores of the coatings to form a hydrophobic membrane, thereby preventing solution corrosion [36,45]. Furthermore, it can be seen from the SEM images in Figure 3 that the addition of hydrophobic agents into the coatings led to a loose structure. These solutions can easily enter the inner structure of the coatings, thereby lowering the chemical stability. Even so, the coatings prepared with the synthetic hydrophobic agents presented better chemical stability. This was largely attributed to fluorinated silane, the main chemical composition in the synthetic hydrophobic agent. The fluorinated silane featured strong chemical bonds to protect the coating from solution corrosion, thereby improving the chemical stability of the coating [46,47].

3.5. Icephobicity of Coated Concrete

The icephobicity of coated concrete was evaluated by the time of icing delay, icing mass and ice adhesion strength. Figure 8 shows the time of icing delay for concrete samples with different coating treatments. For the uncoated concrete sample, the water droplet froze within 60 s, as shown in Figure 8a. The time of icing delay was effectively increased after the concrete samples were treated with the cement-based composite coatings. The coatings prepared with the synthetic hydrophobic agents presented a longer time of icing delay than those prepared with the commercial hydrophobic agents. In addition, the hydrophobic agents used for impregnation represented a better method than those used as an additive to delay the time of icing. For instance, the time of icing for the water droplet was delayed to over 1260 s when the concrete sample was treated by the coatings prepared with the synthetic hydrophobic agent used for impregnation. The freezing of water was mainly composed of two stages: the nucleation of ice and the growth of ice crystals. Consequently, the time of icing delay was largely attributed to the effect of the coating on the above two stages. The hydrophobic coating reduced the contact surface, thereby making it difficult for the nucleation of ice and the growth of ice crystals. Meanwhile, the efficiency of heat transfer was reduced due to the presence of the coating. Therefore, the time of icing delay for the coated concrete was increased.
Figure 9 shows the effect of cement-based composite coatings on the icing mass of concrete samples. It can be seen that the icing mass of the uncoated concrete sample reached the highest value of 11.14 g after 20 min. The presence of coatings significantly reduced the icing mass of the concrete samples. These coatings all had a positive impact on improving the icephobicity of concrete. The icing mass of coated concrete was in the following order: C-A > C-I > S-A > S-I. As can be seen, the concrete samples treated by the coatings prepared with synthetic hydrophobic agents had a lower icing mass, confirming the effect of these coatings on improvement of icephobicity. Moreover, the concrete samples treated with the coatings impregnated by the hydrophobic agents had a lower icing mass, indicating the hydrophobic agents used for impregnation were more effective than those used as an additive to improve the icephobicity of coated concrete. In particular, the icing mass of S-I was only 0.82 g after 20 min, which was much lower than that of the uncoated concrete sample. This was mainly attributed to the super-hydrophobicity of S-I. As mentioned in Figure 5, the contact angle of S-I was greater than 150°, which made it difficult for the water droplet to attach to the surface of the coated concrete samples. Therefore, the icing mass of the concrete samples was significantly reduced.
The effect of cement-based composite coatings on the ice adhesion strength of concrete samples is given in Figure 10. For the uncoated concrete sample, the ice adhesion strength reached a high value of 410.5 kPa. After the concrete samples were treated with the coatings, the ice adhesion strength was significantly reduced. The coatings prepared with the synthetic hydrophobic agents presented a lower ice adhesion strength than those prepared with the commercial hydrophobic agents. In addition, the hydrophobic agents used for impregnation were a better choice to reduce the ice adhesion strength than those used as an additive. Also, S-I obtained the lowest ice adhesion strength among these concrete samples. This was also closely related to the super-hydrophobicity of S-I as mentioned above. Compared to the uncoated sample, the addition of a coating also enabled the storage of a small amount of air during the freezing of water. The presence of the air reduced the surface area between the ice and the coating, thereby reducing the ice adhesion strength.

4. Conclusions

In this study, a cement-based composite coating was prepared with a synthetic hydrophobic agent. This hydrophobic agent was used as an additive and for impregnation to investigate its effect on the performance of the coatings, including wettability, mechanical properties, chemical stability and icephobicity, and compared with the commercial silane hydrophobic agent. The following conclusions were drawn:
(1)
The hydrophobic agent synthesized using nano-silica, TEOS and PFDTS incorporated F-containing functional groups into the cement-based composite coating and increased the surface roughness. This resulted in a low surface energy of the coating. Compared to the coatings prepared with the commercial hydrophobic agent, those prepared with the synthetic hydrophobic agent had a rougher morphology.
(2)
The coatings prepared with the synthetic hydrophobic agent had better hydrophobicity compared to those prepared with the commercial hydrophobic agent. The former treated by impregnation even presented super-hydrophobicity with a contact angle exceeding 150°. This is consistent with the surface roughness of the coating morphology.
(3)
The coatings prepared with the synthetic hydrophobic agent maintained a higher contact angle after sandpaper abrasion and solution immersion. The loss rate of contact angle after abrasion was higher for the coatings treated by impregnation, but that after solution immersion was lower. Coatings treated by impregnation still presented better mechanical properties and chemical stability.
(4)
The coatings significantly delayed the time of icing for the concrete samples, reduced the icing mass and ice adhesion strength. This illustrated that the coatings effectively enhanced the icephobicity of concrete. The coatings prepared with the synthetic hydrophobic agent by impregnation presented a better icephobicity. This study guided the utilization of modified cement-based composite coating for anti-/de-icing of guardrail concrete.

Author Contributions

Methodology, K.G.; Validation, Q.Y. and Z.J.; Formal analysis, P.Z.; Investigation, P.Z.; Resources, X.S.; Data curation, H.C.; Writing—original draft, P.Z.; Writing—review & editing, J.G., X.S., K.G., H.C., Q.Y. and Z.J.; Supervision, J.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Data Availability Statement

Data are contained within the article.

Conflicts of Interest

Author Xianlong Shi was employed by the company Guizhou Daowu Highway Construction Co., Ltd. Author Qian Yang was employed by the company Guizhou Hongxin Chuangda Engineering Detection & Consultation Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. Chemical composition of cement-based composite coatings.
Figure 1. Chemical composition of cement-based composite coatings.
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Figure 2. FTIR spectra of cement-based composite coatings.
Figure 2. FTIR spectra of cement-based composite coatings.
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Figure 3. SEM images of cement-based composite coatings with the magnification of (a) 200× and (b) 10,000×.
Figure 3. SEM images of cement-based composite coatings with the magnification of (a) 200× and (b) 10,000×.
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Figure 4. SEM-EDS images of cement-based composite coatings: (a) S-A and (b) S-I.
Figure 4. SEM-EDS images of cement-based composite coatings: (a) S-A and (b) S-I.
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Figure 5. Wettability of cement-based composite coatings.
Figure 5. Wettability of cement-based composite coatings.
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Figure 6. Mechanical properties of cement-based composite coatings: (a) CA variation and (b) CA loss rate after abrasion test.
Figure 6. Mechanical properties of cement-based composite coatings: (a) CA variation and (b) CA loss rate after abrasion test.
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Figure 7. Chemical stability of cement-based composite coatings: (a) CA variation and (b) CA loss rate after solution immersion.
Figure 7. Chemical stability of cement-based composite coatings: (a) CA variation and (b) CA loss rate after solution immersion.
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Figure 8. Effect of cement-based composite coatings on the time of icing delay for concrete samples: (a) no coating, (b) S-A, (c) C-A, (d) S-I and (e) C-I.
Figure 8. Effect of cement-based composite coatings on the time of icing delay for concrete samples: (a) no coating, (b) S-A, (c) C-A, (d) S-I and (e) C-I.
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Figure 9. Icing mass on concrete samples with and without coatings: (a) during and (b) after 20 min of testing.
Figure 9. Icing mass on concrete samples with and without coatings: (a) during and (b) after 20 min of testing.
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Figure 10. Ice adhesion strength of concrete samples with and without coatings.
Figure 10. Ice adhesion strength of concrete samples with and without coatings.
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Table 1. Parameters of raw materials to prepare cement-based composite coatings.
Table 1. Parameters of raw materials to prepare cement-based composite coatings.
GroupCementSandWaterHydrophobic Agent
TypeUsageDosage
S-A10 g20 g5 gSyntheticAdditive3 g
C-ACommercialAdditive
S-ISyntheticImpregnation
C-ICommercialImpregnation
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MDPI and ACS Style

Gao, J.; Zhou, P.; Shi, X.; Gu, K.; Chen, H.; Yang, Q.; Jiang, Z. A Study on the Hydrophobicity and Icephobicity of Modified Cement-Based Composite Coatings for Anti-/De-Icing of Guardrail Concrete. Buildings 2025, 15, 2263. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15132263

AMA Style

Gao J, Zhou P, Shi X, Gu K, Chen H, Yang Q, Jiang Z. A Study on the Hydrophobicity and Icephobicity of Modified Cement-Based Composite Coatings for Anti-/De-Icing of Guardrail Concrete. Buildings. 2025; 15(13):2263. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15132263

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gao, Jianping, Pan Zhou, Xianlong Shi, Kang Gu, Hongji Chen, Qian Yang, and Zhengwu Jiang. 2025. "A Study on the Hydrophobicity and Icephobicity of Modified Cement-Based Composite Coatings for Anti-/De-Icing of Guardrail Concrete" Buildings 15, no. 13: 2263. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15132263

APA Style

Gao, J., Zhou, P., Shi, X., Gu, K., Chen, H., Yang, Q., & Jiang, Z. (2025). A Study on the Hydrophobicity and Icephobicity of Modified Cement-Based Composite Coatings for Anti-/De-Icing of Guardrail Concrete. Buildings, 15(13), 2263. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15132263

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