[kemeticlion]

I have question I'm hoping u amazing members of this forum can help me with.

I was doing some experiments to try soften or dissolve hardened concrete, but failed. I was trying lime, vinegar and baking soda but it didn't work. I want to use acids that are available at home or in fruits. I don't want to use hydrochloric acid or muratic acid. Is there a home made solution to softening concrete or dissolving it?

Thank you in advance for your help

[Intanjir]

Crush it into a reasonably fine powder. The increase in surface area will help whatever you try happen faster. Don't expect anything to happen quickly. You might try your experiments again with crushed concrete and sealed in a bottle for a couple days.

Portland Cement is mostly Calcium Silicates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belite

In general, Silicates are not particularly soluble in any solvents. You have to chemically react them.
If we replaced the silicate with another anion we could make the Calcium soluble.
For example, Calcium Chloride if we could use HCl.
The acetate ion in vinegar is a good candidate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_acetate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_degradation