Study of water repellency and corrosion of STA-PFOA modified mortar

The water repellent treatment of cement-based materials based on superhydrophobic modification has been shown a promising application value for the corrosion resistance protection of cement-based materials in coastal areas. This paper proposed a method for fabricating an amphiphobic (both superhydrophobic and oleophobic) mortar with overall water and oil repellency using mixed STA-PFOA modifier. It is found that the surface and internal cross-section of the mortar showed amphiphobicity. The amphiphobic mortar kept hydrophobicity even under acidic and alkaline conditions. The oil-self-cleaning test demonstrated that the fabricated mortar not only had good oil stain resistance, but also exhibited good self-cleaning property. Compared with the ordinary mortar, the cumulative water absorption and connected porosity of the amphiphobic mortar were reduced by 66.4% and 70.6%, respectively. In addition, the ordinary mortar surface coated with amphiphobic mortar also showed good corrosion resistance compared with that of the ordinary mortar. It is expected that the water and oil repellent mortar fabricated using the proposed method may have potential applications in coastal areas.