Membrane Curing:

Membrane curing is used at the places where there is acute shortage of water. In membrane curing a newly laid concrete surface is covered by using chemical or liquid membranes in order to prevent evaporation of moisture from concrete. This technique has been found good in managing a satisfactory state of wetness in the body of concrete to promote continuous hydration when original w/c ratio used is not less than 0.5. The membranes should be applied immediately after the concrete has been finished. The concrete surface should be kept moist till the membrane is applied. Such compounds should neither be applied when there is free water on the concrete surface nor after the concrete has dried out. The correct time of applying membrane's that when water film disappears from the surface of the finished concrete. Curing membranes are plastic films, bitumen emulsions, wax emulsions and waterproof papers, etc. Curing compounds should not be applied in between two courses in order to obtain perfect bonding. The disadvantage of this method is that concrete loses its strength due to less rate of hydration. No supervision is needed in this method.