Concrete is the second most consumed substance in the world ranked only behind water. Approximately 10 billion tons (20,000,000,000,000 pounds) of concrete is produced annually, globally. Put into perspective, by comparison, only 1.7 billion tons of steel is produced annually, globally. Concrete is widely used to create unique and distinctive structures from the wavy concrete roof of the Science Hills museum in Komatsu Japan to the 3D printed pedestrian bridge in Shanghai's Wisdom Bay Industrial Center. Concrete is used in both commercial and heavy industrial structures and because of this it has diverse requirements, just like steel, for protection from damage and deterioration and to maintain its aesthetics. Sealers, coatings and linings are effective in providing barrier protection of concrete from the chemical and physical exposures which attack concrete structures and lead to complex and costly repairs. Therefore, appropriate surface preparation of concrete is the single most important step to prevent premature barrier protection failure and subsequent concrete deterioration.
