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Hydrophobe International Conference Series on Water Repellent Treatment and Protective Surface Technology for Building Materials

1. Objectives and Aims of Hydrophobe Conferences
The main objective of the Hydrophobe International Conference series is to bring together professionals active in the broad field of water repellent treatment of building materials. The main aim of the conferences is to provide professionals from around the world with a platform where to exchange experiences and information about new materials and techniques and to share recent results. Since 1995, when the first meeting was held at TU Delft, The Netherlands, participants could be subdivided into three groups. The first one is essentially interested in protection and restoration of historic buildings and structures, the second is primarily concerned with protection and repair of common buildings and the built infrastructure, and the third one is made up from experts coming from the manufacturing and formulating industry of water repellent agents. While all three groups have an interest in water repellents the specific interest may differ. For the first group, the key requirement is the conservation and preservation of monuments just as well as its constituting materials, thus curtailing tests and laboratory studies to a minimum. The second group is mainly interested in protecting common buildings and the built infrastructure to extend its service life while the third group works on optimizing their products for specific applications while balancing production costs. Given the interdisciplinary character of science and technology of water repellent agents and their applications as well as the technological advances in this field, it has become evident that the scope of the conference has to be widened in order to take all relevant topics adequately into consideration. Among the disciplines, which need to be covered in more detail in the future, are surface physics and surface chemistry, nano-technology, while advanced experimental and numerical methods to analyze and describe water absorption, migration and drying need to be further developed. All of these topics should play an increasing role in future conferences. Quantitative relations and data have to replace qualitative and purely phenomenological approaches. One way to achieve this goal is to invite experts of the specific fields as guest speakers to future conferences. One major aim of future Hydrophobe conferences is to stimulate the dialogue between experts coming from different disciplines and to initiate and strengthen co-operation between multidisciplinary groups.

• Physics and chemistry of moisture interaction with porous and non-porous materials.
• Interaction of water repellent agents with the substrate and other treatments applied to stone, such as consolidants or biocides.
• Water repellent treatment of historic masonry and renderings.
• Water repellent treatment of cement-based materials.
• Water repellent treatment and service life in aggressive environment.
• Effect of water repellent treatment on bio-colonization and its interaction with biocides.
• On site durability aspects of water repellent treatments.
• Injection against rising damp.
• Potential of integral water repellent treatment.
• Nano-technology for water repellent formulations.
• Evaluation of the effectiveness of water repellent treatment.
• Numerical simulation of water migration under variable environmental conditions with and without water repellent treatment.
• Numerical simulation of the effectiveness of water repellent treatment as chloride barrier.
• Anti-graffiti systems.
• Photo catalytic and self-cleaning technology applied to concrete, masonry, rendering and tiles.
• Water repellent treatment and extension of service life.
• Ecological aspects.
• Service life of water repellent treatment.

This list will have to be revised and modified as knowledge and experience in this broad and interdisciplinary field grows. Right now, the economic and ecological impact of water repellent treatment has to be emphasized. Service life of reinforced concrete structures in aggressive environment is often comparatively short and early repair or replacement measures become necessary. Repair of reinforced concrete structures has an enormous impact on the environment today because of the changes in traffic deviation, i.e., the corresponding mass flow, makes this the highest worldwide. However, service life of reinforced concrete structures in aggressive environment can be extended considerably by engineered water repellent treatment. Future Hydrophobe conferences will have to underline the importance of water repellent treatment for improvement of ecological construction.

2. Steering Committee
To ensure the continuity of Hydrophobe conferences, a Steering Committee is established, which should not have more than eight members selected from chairpersons or editors of previous Hydrophobe conferences to which three experts from industry may be added. The chairperson of the Steering Committee is elected by the members of the steering committee for the period between two consecutive conferences, which typically should be three or four years. The main task of the Steering Committee is to nominate the chairperson for the subsequent Conference. It will also support and supervise the preparatory work and organization of future conferences. The elected chairperson shall report regularly to the members of the Steering Committee regarding the progress of the organization and the logistical details of the Conference. Regional Hydrophobe Seminars and/or Workshops can be organized between two Conferences by professionals interested and active in the field. Permission has to be requested from the Steering Committee and it must be clearly indicated that the meeting is organized within the Hydrophobe conference framework. The Steering Committee will support and supervise the preparatory work and the organization of Hydrophobe Seminars and/or Workshops.

3. General Assembly
Registered members of a Hydrophobe Conference are automatically members of the General Assembly. A meeting of the General Assembly shall be organized towards the end of each conference. The acting Chairman of the conference shall act as chairman of the General Assembly. Members of the General Assembly shall vote on the manual and on future changes of the manual. Members of the General Assembly can propose new topics, which should be covered by future Hydrophobe conferences. Members of the General Assembly may suggest new activities of the Hydrophobe community such as workshops of seminars on selected topics. Members of the General Assembly may suggest candidates for the coming Hydrophobe Conference and vote if there is more than one proposal.

Appendix 1: Former Hydrophobe Conferences

• Hydrophobe I: TU Delft, The Netherlands, 1995
  Chairmen: Folker H. Wittmann, T. A. J. M. Siemes and L. G. W. Verhoef
• Hydrophobe II: ETH Zürich, Switzerland 1998
  Chairmen: Folker H. Wittmann and Andreas Gerdes
• Hydrophobe III: University of Hannover, Germany, 2001
  Chairpersons: Klaus Littmann and A. Elena Charola
• Hydrophobe IV: Stockholm, Sweden, 2005
  Chairman: Johan Silfwerbrand
• Hydrophobe V: KIK-IRPA Brussels, Belgium, 2008
  Chairpersons: Hilde De Clercq and A. Elena Charola
• Hydrophobe VI: Rome, Italy, 2011
  Chairmen: Ernesto Borrelli and Vasco Fassina


• Hydrophobe VII: Lisbon, Portugal, 2014
  Chairman: João-Manuel Mimoso
  

Appendix 2: Members of the Steering Committee by May 2014

A. Presidents of past Hydrophobe Conferences

• Hydrophobe VII: Mimoso Joao and Delgado Rodrigues José,
  Laboratória Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC), Lisbon, Portugal jmimoso(at)lnec.pt
• Hydrophobe VI: Borelli Ernesto
  Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro, ISCR, Roma, Italy ernesto.borrelli1(at)gmail.com
• Hydrophobe III & V: Charola A. Elena
  Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA charola_ae(at)yahoo.com
• Hydrophobe V: De Clercq Hilde
  Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, KIK-IRPA, Brussels, Belgium hilde.declercq(at)kikirpa.be
• Hydrophobe IV: Silfwerbrand Johan,
  Swedish Cement and Concrete Institute, CBI, Stockholm, Sweden jsilfwer(at)kth.se
• Hydrophobe III: Littmann Klaus
  Leibniz University Hannover, IBW, Hannover, Germany littmann(at)ibw.uni-hannover.de
• Hydrophobe I & II: Wittmann Folker H.
  Aedificat Institute Freiburg, Germany wittmann(at)aedificat.de
• Hydrophobe I: Siemes T. A. J. M., and Verhoef L. G. W.
  Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

B. Representatives from related companies

• Auer Dominik
  Wacker Chemie, Burghausen, Germany dominik.auer(at)wacker.com
• Müller Johannes
  Sto AG, Stühlingen, Germany t.gebhart(at)sto.com
• Roos Markus
  Evonik, Germany markus.roos(at)evonik.com