Why is the epoxy floor bubbling?

In industrial plants, you will often use epoxy floor paint for flooring. Sometimes you will find bubbles on the epoxy floor on the first floor or basement. What's going on? Why is the epoxy floor bubbling?

Why do we choose epoxy flooring?

Epoxy flooring is a high-strength, wear-resistant, and aesthetically pleasing flooring with advantages such as seamless, solid texture, good drug resistance, anti-corrosion, dust proof, easy maintenance, and low maintenance costs. Multiple schemes can be designed according to different usage requirements, such as thin-layer coating, 1-5 mm thick self leveling ground, anti slip and wear-resistant coating, mortar type coating, anti-static, anti-corrosion coating, etc.

Epoxy flooring can be roughly divided into: epoxy resin grinding stone flooring, epoxy resin colored sand pressed flooring, epoxy resin self leveling flooring, epoxy resin mortar flooring, and epoxy resin flat coating flooring.

Where is bubbling prone to occur?

Bubbles on epoxy flooring often occur on the first floor or basement, and sometimes also on the second floor or above. Bubbles on epoxy flooring are usually discovered shortly after construction, and some epoxy flooring laid in the morning may have blisters in the afternoon.

The blister develops continuously from small to large and stops when it reaches a certain level. The higher the temperature, the more likely water bubbles are to occur and the faster they develop. The shape and size of water bubbles vary. Some water bubbles have a diameter of over 1 m and a height of 20-50 mm.

What is the reason for bubbling?

The occurrence of water bubbles is not significantly related to the construction area, some are severe, some are mild, and some are intact in the same area. The epoxy floor layer constructed with the same material and operated by the same group, some have water bubbles while others are intact, indicating that the water bubbles are caused by multiple factors.

Upon opening the blister, it was discovered that it contained water or a yellowish liquid. The epoxy ground layer detached from the base layer, and the adhesive material adhered to the base layer was pulled into a peak like shape;

According to the explanation of "physics", the temperature and pressure relationship of three saturated curves formed by the evaporation of liquid in a sealed container.

In a sealed container, the pressure of saturated water vapor increases with temperature. When the temperature is 20 ° C, the pressure inside the drum is 0; And when the temperature is between 70-80 ° C, it rises linearly to 0.1 MPa.

In many regions, the extreme radiation heat on the ground during the hot summer can reach around 70 ° C. At such high temperatures, the epoxy bonding material has softened and its adhesive strength has greatly decreased. Therefore, it is like gradually inflating into the tire, causing large bumps in the epoxy ground layer and pulling the bonding material into a honeycomb shape.

The part of the epoxy layer without water bubbles is not firmly bonded to the ground. Upon careful observation of the contact area, it can also be found that there are parts that cannot be cured due to moisture in the epoxy.

Where does the water in the bubbles come from?

1. The base layer, such as cement mortar leveling layer, has a maximum moisture content of about 12%, and the maximum moisture content of the base layer is greater than that of the leveling layer.

2. The dehydration of other ingredients in epoxy is not complete.

3. Poor bonding between epoxy and base layer during construction leaves gaps and chemical activity of the epoxy itself, resulting in incomplete curing or residue or gas that does not fully cure when exposed to moisture.

4. Damp gases infiltrating underground at the grassroots level.