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Bonding concrete for professionals
Concrete is a widely used building material due to its high strength values and weather resistance. For adhesive applications, there are a variety of products on the market for a wide range of uses, such as bonding add-on or built-in parts, fastening anchors or heavy-duty dowels, sealing parts of buildings or for the quick and easy repair of concrete surfaces. However, it's important you select the optimal adhesive for the respective application.
Concrete, or reinforced concrete, has become an indispensable building material. In the construction of houses, it's mostly used for ceilings, columns and ring beams, and in larger buildings for walls and foundations.
The construction of high-rise buildings and skyscrapers, tunnels, bridges and retaining walls is usually only made possible by using concrete.
Application examples for concrete bonds
- Load-bearing structural elements, walls and ceilings, pre-stressed concrete ceilings and floors, both indoors and outdoors
- Exterior and interior walls
- Floor and path slabs
- Prefabricated elements such as blocks for masonry construction or exposed aggregate slabs
- Counterweights on cranes or blocks as breakwaters
- Stands (parasol etc.)
- Horticulture: edgings, planters etc.
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The secret of the success of hardened concrete is undoubtedly its versatile properties:
- High compressive strength - in the building industry usually at least 20 N/mm² (high-performance concretes even 150 N/mm²)
- High surface wear resistance
- Corrosion protection of the steel reinforcement due to the high pH value of the concrete
- Good fire protection properties with simultaneous fire protection also for the reinforcing of steel
- Good protection against moisture and water impermeability
- Free shaping possibilities which provides extensive design freedom in surface design
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Common bonding tasks for concrete are:
- Sealing and bonding (to water)
- Floor coverings (wood, ceramic or concrete)
- Placing fasteners and heavy-duty dowels (rods, anchors, threads) in drilled holes
- Attaching cladding to concrete walls
Types of adhesive for concrete bonding
- Waterproofing on parts of the building can be done well with chemical adhesives such as acrylic or silicone (e.g. terrace, balcony, gutter or basement foundations, etc.).
- Polymer-based chemical adhesives are suitable for spot bonding, e.g. for fixing and bonding threaded rods, anchors and heavy-duty dowels.
The bonding of built-in parts, e.g. elements of ladders in shafts, is carried out by means of 2-component reaction resin adhesive. - 2-component epoxy resin adhesievs are suitable for flat applications e.g. for bonding smooth concrete flank surfaces. 2-component epoxy fine fillers are ideal for filling concrete surfaces and can also be used for bonding steel, stone and wood etc. as well as reparing damaged concrete surfaces, cement mortar layers and filling cracks.
Bonding instead of dowelling
There is a suitable adhesive for concrete for almost every requirement, but there are a few things to bear in mind beforehand:
- Determining the required adhesive strength (in kg/m²). The range of achievable adhesive forces is between 50 kg/m² and 400 kg/m², depending on the product
- Full-surface or spot bonding? Here it's important to consider whether bead application (from a cartridge or with a silicone syringe) is sufficient or whether the adhesive must be distributed over the entire surface.
- Material combination: concrete with concrete or concrete with other materials
- Interior or exterior
- Water-repellent or water-impermeable
Adhesives can be used when drilling, dowelling or screwing is not possible or should be avoided. Further advantages are that bonding does not require expensive tools, generate noise or drilling dust.
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Bonding rubber to concrete (e.g. for sealing)
This can be done, for example, with viscoplastic, viscous 2-component construction adhesive with epoxy resin formulation. This has high strength, good ageing behaviour and a long working time.
Professional tip: There are countless rubber mixtures, each with different adhesive properties. The bond can be damaged, weakened or even destroyed by diffusion (migration) of ingredients of the rubber compound (sometimes only after prolonged use and exposure to heat). It's therefore important to find out in advance which adhesives are suitable for which type of rubber.
Important: Always clean and roughen rubber surfaces thoroughly first.
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Concrete (also stone, granite) with metals (e.g. aluminium) - bare bonding
Bare metals (aluminium, iron, steel, stainless steel, brass, copper, zinc sheet etc.) have different adhesive properties.
Important: The surfaces must be clean and free of grease. Tip: The adhesive properties can be improved by sanding the adhesive surface.
2-component adhesives based on PUR or epoxy resin are usually suitable here. For some metal combinations or metals (e.g. stainless steel), 2-component adhesives based on MMA also work.
Especially for the construction industry (bonding concrete / stone to metal, e.g. aluminium), viscoplastic 2-component construction adhesives based on acrylate (fast initial strength) or epoxy resin (high final strength) such as Scotch-Weld 7271 B / A from 3M are suitable. The hybrid construction adhesive with a short working time of 12 minutes is non-flowing - therefore also ideal for overhead bonding.
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Bonding concrete (also stone, granite) with glass
Permanently elastic adhesive/sealants or 2-component adhesives based on epoxy resin also work here.
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Bonding concrete (also stone, granite) with thermosetting plastic
Suitable: depending on the requirements, 2-component adhesives based on epoxy resin or permanently elastic sealing/adhesive compounds, but also 2-component MMA as well as 2-component PUR adhesives.
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Bonding concrete (also stone, granite) with thermoplastic resin
This is not an entirely unproblematic combination of materials, especially because of the large number of thermoplastics (e.g. PC, PA, PS, ABS, SAN, etc.).
A possible adhesive for concrete-plastic bonding here is 3M™ Scotch-Weld™ Low Odour Acrylic Adhesive DP88XX, a construction adhesive based on acrylate (MMA) viscoplastic, which cures well even at room temperature. This also bonds concrete to metals such as aluminium, steel and stainless steel. -
Bonding concrete (also stone, granite) with insulating rigid foams made of XPS or EPS (polystyrene)
This application is often used for insulation on concrete or masonry.
Special adhesives are required for Styrofoam panels. Solvent-free and flame-retardant adhesives are a prerequisite here. This is because adhesives containing solvents can cause the material to decompose. Immediate initial strength is also usually necessary for these large-area bondings. This can only be achieved with high-performance contact adhesives (adhesive application to both material surfaces). -
Repair of concrete - repair cracks in a few minutes
For quick and easy repair of concrete surfaces, 3M offers a self-levelling two-component polyurethane construction adhesive e.g. for repair work in production halls with concrete floors. Scotch-Weld DP 600 SL cures smoothly even in deep joints and cracks - the compound is even more durable than repairs using concrete. The new adhesive is also suitable for the installation of windows or doors and performs well when fixing anchors, light bolts in concrete surfaces.
Generally, polyurethane installation adhesives cross-link by means of moisture, either from the substrate or from the ambient air - but fixing (for heavy objects) and pressing on are necessary. PU adhesive cures quickly, bonds rigidly but very firmly, it can be used indoors and outdoors (low UV stability) and has good water resistance.
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Concrete fabric tapes
Concrete fabric tape is best suited for sealing concrete formwork and fixing foils, for example during high-pressure cleaning and plastering work. Such a supple, strongly adhesive, tear-resistant and waterproof fabric tape not only adheres strongly to concrete, but also to stone, masonry and other porous surfaces. 3M Concrete Fabric Tape 399, for example, is especially suitable for outdoor applications.
Wood/parquet bonding on unfinished concrete floors (as opposed to screed)
Especially if the floor surface has been heavily smoothed, concrete floors are usually much denser and less absorbent than the usual screeds. This then leads to lower adhesion of primers as well as adhesives. In addition, concrete often contains a spectrum of additives that may accumulate on the surface.
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Procedure:
- Before applying the adhesive, remove the top layer by shot-blasting or milling and then vacuum.
- Check for sufficient surface strength, evenness, surface grip, cracks and impurities.
- Apply epoxy resin primers and sand afterwards. In case of residual moisture in concrete with a water content of up to five percent, it's recommended to apply a vapour-retardant epoxy-based primer several times beforehand.
- Since the water content of the adhesive may be absorbed by the wood and lead to swelling, preferably use water-free reactive resin adhesives that set by means of a chemical reaction.
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