Factors Affecting The Durability of Concrete

The factors affecting the durability of concrete may be external or internal causes.

External Causes

The external causes may be physical, chemical and mechanical as described below:

a) Environmental action such as the occurrence of extreme temperature, abrasion and electrostatic action etc.

b) The chemical attack by natural or industrial gases. The common form of the chemical attack are leaching out of cement carbonation, chloride-ion penetration, sulphate attack, marine environment etc.

Internal Causes

The internal causes include the following:

a) Alkali-aggregate reaction.
b) Volume change due to the difference in thermal properties of the aggregates and cement paste.
c) Water-cement ratio.