What are the effects of weather on concrete and construction? This was the main topic under consideration at the 2022 ICRI Spring Convention, April 4th-6th in Baltimore, MD, along with many other issues related to concrete repair. We were grateful to have a solid trio of MCI® experts (Kevin Quan, Jon Connealy, and Lisa Marston) there to represent Cortec® MCI® at our tabletop booth and in various committee meetings and educational presentations throughout the three-day gathering of construction professionals.
Networking at ICRI
The convention was marked by strong attendance, allowing our team to network with a variety of engineers, contractors, and distributors—especially from the U.S. East Coast region. The steel wool bottle demo captured a lot of interest because of the clear contrast between unprotected versus protected steel wool in water. It was great to see suppliers interested in learning more about MCI®, as well, since they stand to benefit from incorporating the technology into some of their own projects.
Educational Opportunities
Our team also had time to attend educational presentations and committee meetings, learning about everything from competitor technologies to how climate change could affect concrete durability. Lisa Marston, our Regional Technical Service Engineer with a focus on MCI®, was able to add to her skills and understanding of the field by participating in the 160 Life Cycle and Sustainability committee meeting and attending the 510 Corrosion committee and the Women in ICRI committee meetings.
Ongoing Initiatives
One topic that kept resurfacing during conference discussions was the issue of service life modeling for existing structures at the repair stage. Currently, no tools for estimating service life exist beyond what is available for new structures. This will likely be a continuing topic of discussion at ICRI as more ideas unfold on how to address this important need. Other exciting initiatives include the recent development of new task groups by Women in ICRI to encourage more involvement and outreach at the local chapter level for emergency response support, philanthropic/volunteer opportunities, education, and more.
All in all, ICRI was a great time to deepen our connections, share our specialty areas of expertise, and keep our eye on trends that will be important to all of us in the concrete and construction industries!
Save the date now for the ICRI Fall Convention in Atlanta! https://www.icri.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1628243&group=
Keywords: Cortec, MCI, weather and concrete, ICRI Spring Convention, service life modeling, effects of weather on concrete, From Grey to Green, sustainability, corrosion, concrete repair
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