Why epoxy and other polymer coatings fail on concrete in wet environment?
A. There are several reasons for that. It could be capillary pressure at the polymer coating/concrete interface due to water penetrating from behind the coating (e.g. sump pit coated on the positive side), but getting the ground water from behind. Or it could be pinholes and micro-cracks in the coating. The penetrating water from the positive side creates high capillary pressures at the polymer coating-concrete interface and causes de-bonding. It could also be a combination of both effects. Cement based coatings do not have these problems, since they are breathable and also they are able to reduce the capillary pressures at the interface by absorbing the water into the porosity of the coating at the concrete interface.
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