What is Chipping Damage and How to Prevent It

Chipping damage can cause serious structural damage & tear down entire building if not taken seriously. Learn about its causes effects & prevention.

What is Chipping Damage and How to Prevent It

Chipping is the result of surface or subsurface fatigue, which causes fractures to form on the running surfaces. When the rolling elements move over these cracks, pieces or flakes of material peel off. This phenomenon is also known as “peeling”, “flaking” or “stinging”. A simple form of mechanical chipping occurs when two metal plates collide with each other and produce metal shock waves (also known as compression waves) that are reflected off the respective metal plates.

These compression waves are further reflected in regions where high tensile stresses act and cause additional damage and failure. Metal chipping is also caused by cavitation, when a fluid at low pressure causes the formation of vapor bubbles. A localized high pressure area is created when these vapour bubbles collapse, causing descaling on adjacent or nearby surfaces. Chipping is the deterioration of concrete or masonry around your home as a result of water entering the brick, concrete, or natural stone and causes the base to be pushed out, peeled and peeled off.

It is not an aesthetic problem, as it can cause serious structural damage or even tear down the entire building, so it should be taken seriously. In corrosion, peeling occurs when a substance (metal or concrete) releases minute particles of corrosion products as the corrosion reaction progresses. Although they are not soluble or permeable, these corrosion products do not adhere to the surface of the parent material to form an additional corrosion barrier, as occurs in passivation. Spallation occurs as a result of a large change in volume during the reaction.

Peeling concrete is a common problem where part of the surface flakes off, breaks or splinters. Also known as flaking, it is the result of a weak surface that is susceptible to damage. This form of deterioration, known as brick peeling, is often the result of water damage. It occurs when water enters the brick or mortar and forces the surface to peel, peel, or peel off.

Concrete peeling affects a wide variety of structures, including concrete framed buildings, multi-storey car parks, bridges, jetties, tanks and ponds. Chipping can have far-reaching consequences in terms of health and safety, structural integrity and asset value. Unfortunately, an adhesive plaster approach is often taken to repair peeling structures, without treating the underlying causes. So what exactly is chipping? What are its effects and how can structures be successfully repaired and further corrosion prevented? Chipping is a term used to describe areas of concrete that have cracked and delaminated from the substrate.

There are several reasons why husking occurs, including freeze-thaw cycles, the expansive effects of the alkaline silica reaction, or exposure to fire. However, the most common cause of chipping is corrosion of embedded steel reinforcing bars or steel sections. Corrosive steel can expand up to ten times its original volume, putting stress on the surrounding concrete. The reason why some concrete structures exhibit widespread flaking while others appear to be in good condition is due to a combination of age, maintenance, concrete quality, concrete cover depth and local environmental conditions.

When we see an old brick house with crumbling or flaking of the surface of the brick wall we recognize a type of damage known as peeling brick. If peeling has already occurred damaged bricks can be replaced but the cause of moisture must also be properly identified and treated. Exfoliation (or wear of the onion skin) is the gradual removal of the shrapnel due to cyclical increase and decrease in temperature of the surface layers of rock. One of the most common causes of chipping in old solid-walled buildings is use of targeted cement on soft-lime mortar joints.

Measures can be taken to prevent it from flaking when concrete is first poured as concrete mix will influence likelihood that it will flake in future. In addition if metal surface already corroded peeling occurs as small flakes are detached from metal further exposing inner surface material to corrosive environment. Descaling can be inconsequential that is purely aesthetic problem or it can cause serious structural damage that requires costly remediation work. In process metal peeling spontaneous fragmentation chipping or separation surface or surface coating occurs when pressure reduced rapidly rapid expansion rock causes high surface tension and chipping.

To prevent chipping damage it's important to identify underlying causes such as freeze-thaw cycles alkaline silica reaction exposure fire corrosion embedded steel reinforcing bars steel sections etc. Proper maintenance such as regular inspection repair replacement if necessary use appropriate materials for construction use protective coatings etc. should also be done in order to prevent further deterioration structures due chipping damage.