Dow Corning Building Material Protection Specialist to Present at Global Mortars
MIDLAND, Mich. - January 9, 2008 - Jean-Paul Lecomte, Dow Corning Corporation Building Materials Protection technical service team lead, will present "Dry Solutions: Encapsulated Silicone/Silane Mix Enhances Water Resistance of Concrete" at Global Mortars Conference and Exhibition 2008 in London.
Lecomte's presentation will describe a method for converting liquid hydrophobic additives to a powder form which can be incorporated into dry cement, resulting in significant reduction in water absorption of cement mortars. The presentation is based on a technical paper co-authored with Andreas Stammer and Marc Thibaut, Dow Corning technical specialists.
"Controlling water absorption is critical to reducing various kinds of damage and degradation in buildings," said Lecomte. "While hydrophobic treatments can be applied at any stage of the process, it is most convenient for the end user to have the treatment incorporated into the dry cement mix."
According to Lecomte, liquid siloxanes and alkyl silanes are the most useful hydrophobing additives, but they must be supplied in a form which is dry and resists degradation by the strongly alkaline cement. His presentation will describe a process for converting the liquid additives into a dry form, as well as test results which confirm that an additive produced in this way is capable of greatly reducing water absorption of a mortar. Lecomte's presentation will take place at 2:00 p.m., Monday, January 21.
The Global Mortars Conference and Exhibition 2008 will take place January 21-22, 2008, at One Whitehall Place in London, England. For more information, visit http://propubs.com/glo-mo/.
To learn more about Dow Corning Construction products and solutions, visit www.dowcorning.com/construction. For more specific information about dry mix additives for concrete, email construction@dowcorning.com.
About the Presenter, Jean-Paul Lecomte
Jean-Paul Lecomte holds a bachelor's degree and a PhD in chemistry from the University of Brussels, Belgium. He joined Dow Corning in 1994. Since early 2007 he has led the technical service team for the building material protection segment, based at the company's European headquarters in Seneffe, Belgium.
Dow Corning Construction
For more than 60 years, architects, building consultants, contractors and construction material providers around the world have turned to Dow Corning for its expertise and its silicon-based, performance-enhancing materials and additives for glazing, sealing and weatherproofing new and existing construction projects. For more information about Dow Corning's complete line of products for the construction industry, contact www.dowcorning.com/construction.
Dow Corning (www.dowcorning.com) provides performance-enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 25,000 customers worldwide. A global leader in silicon-based technology and innovation, offering more than 7,000 products and services, Dow Corning is equally owned by The Dow Chemical Company and Corning Incorporated. More than half of Dow Corning's sales are outside the United States.
Contact:
Jennifer Wong
(202) 778-2008
jwong@apcoworldwide.com
