The two most common tests of new concrete include the strength of a sample of concrete tested usually at 28 days and testing the air content of the fresh concrete on-site as the construction is progressing. But which one of these tests is more important? Which one should we pay more attention to?

Scaling, as defined by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Committee 116, is the “local flaking or peeling away of the near-surface portion of hardened concrete or mortar.” Sometimes called mortar flaking when it occurs just over the aggregates near the surface, it is primarily a physical action created by hydraulic pressures from repeated freeze-thaw cycles within the concrete. The expansive forces caused by the formation of ice are exacerbated with deicing chemicals, which increase both the saturation of the concrete and the number of freeze-thaw cycles. The distress mechanisms of scaling are complex on both a microscopic and macroscopic level.