Effect of Carbonation and Sulphate on Chloride Ingress in Cement Pastes and Concretes with Supplementary Cementitious Materials

Abstract

The main cause of premature deterioration of reinforced concrete structures is the corrosion of steel bars, induced by chloride ions (for example in marine environment) and/or by carbonation (atmospheric CO2). At the same time, environmental-induced degradations of concrete can also affect the structure, such as sulphate attack. This can lead to the formation of ettringite, inducing expansion inside the materials and finally degradation. Carbonation, chloride and sulphate ingress are usually studied separately in the literature. This is not representative of in-situ conditions since they can occur at the same time and can have an influence on each other. In this paper, chloride ingress are studied for concretes and cement pastes partially carbonated or/and in presence of sulphate in chloride contact solution. The mixtures contain OPC alone or with supplementary cementitious materials (SCM). SCMs are here pozzolanic materials (Fly Ash or Metakaolin) or alkali-activated materials such as ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). The materials, partially carbonated (2 months in chamber at 1.5 % of CO2) or not, are put in contact with chloride solutions in presence of sulphate. This study focuses on the apparent chloride diffusion coefficients, as well as chloride binding isotherms which are obtained by the profile method. In addition, some aspects of the microstructure and of the pore structure are investigated, by using Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry and 27Al NMR, in order to better understand the results obtained relatively to the apparent chloride diffusion coefficients and to the chloride binding. Chloride ingress increases when sulphates are present in the contact solution for all cement materials tested (partially carbonated or not). In addition, chloride ingress is faster when the material is partially carbonated before contact with chloride solution. It appears that both carbonation or presence of sulphate decrease chloride binding, thus explaining the results. The results show an evolution of the properties as a function of the cement replacement ratio by SCMs.