Effect of crack width and wet-dry cycles on the chloride penetration resistance of engineered cementitious composite (ECC)

Abstract

• Influence of crack width and wet-dry cycles on the chloride ingress in cracked ECC was investigated. • Chloride penetration profile as well as the change of total and water-soluble chloride ion content was measured. • The “maximum phenomenon” is observed for both water-soluble and bound chloride ions profiles under wet-dry cycles. • The change of the mineral phases and porosity is related with the chloride binding behaviour. The resistance of cracked ECC against chloride ingress is mainly governed by the accumulated crack width of all the cracks rather than the maximum width of multiple cracks. However, most studies focus on the influence of a single fine crack (<100 μm), which is far smaller than the accumulated crack width. To this end, this study focuses on a relatively large crack width scale. Cracks with widths of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mm were notched on an ECC specimen. Both NaCl solution immersion and wet-dry cycles conditions were applied. Chloride penetration profile as well as the change of total and water-soluble chloride ion content was measured. Relationship between the bound chloride and water-soluble chloride was studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) tests were carried out to show the influence of crack width and wet-dry cycles on the changes of the mineral phases, porosity and pore size distribution in the vicinity of the crack.