Microwave system for in-situ curing of concrete repair

This paper presents some results of the FP7 MCure project on the development of a prototype system for microwave curing of concrete and concrete repair. Microwave curing of concrete provides higher early age strength compared to normally cured concrete. A prototype microwave curing system has been developed based on laboratory results on microwave curing of concrete repair materials. Subsequently, field trials were carried out to validate the Pre-Industrial Prototype system by testing elements of four commercial repair materials and a CEM II cement concrete. The prototype control system was used to record data such as surface temperature of concrete, moisture content of concrete and output power of the magnetron. In addition, the relationships between microwave output power, temperature and volume of repair of the field trials were derived and compared with the laboratory results. The prototype microwave system performed effectively. Slabs of dimensions 1 m x 1 m and depths up to 64 mm were microwave cured to temperature up to 45 oC for the predetermined time.