Influence of moisture condition on chloride diffusion in partially saturated ordinary Portland cement mortar

Yong Zhang,Guang Ye,Mingzhong Zhang

doi:10.1617/s11527-018-1162-7

Yong Zhang, Guang Ye + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-018-1162-7

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Abstract

Experiments have been carried out to study the influence of moisture condition, including moisture content and its distribution, on the chloride diffusion in partially saturated ordinary Portland cement mortar. The mortar samples with water-to-cement (w/c) ratios of 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6, cured for 1 year, were preconditioned to uniform water saturations ranging from 18 to 100%. The interior relative humidities of these partially saturated cement mortars, i.e. water vapour desorption isotherm (WVDI), were measured. The WVDI results in relation to the pore structures obtained from the mercury intrusion porosimetry tests of paste samples with the same w/c ratios were analyzed, which provided a basic insight into the moisture distribution in the non-saturated cement mortars. The relative chloride diffusion coefficients of cement mortars at various water saturations were determined based on the Nernst-Einstein equation and conductivity technique. It is found that the relative chloride diffusion coefficient Drc depends on the degree of water saturation Sw and WVDI. At a given Sw level, the Drc is larger for a higher w/c ratio. The role of the w/c ratio in the Drc–Sw relation, however, becomes less pronounced with increasing w/c ratio. There exists a critical saturation, below which the water-filled capillary pores are discontinuous and the Drc-value tends towards infinitely small. An increase of the w/c ratio results in a decrease of the critical saturation level.

Highlights

Chloride-induced corrosion is nowadays the main durability concern for the reinforced concrete structures in marine environment
In the absence of sufficient knowledge about the effect of non-saturated state on chloride diffusion, the service life prediction based on the chloride diffusion coefficient of saturated concretes may give rise to misjudgement of the actual serviceability of reinforced concrete structures
For the hardened cement paste oven-dried at 50 °C after 4 weeks, the pores larger than 8 nm were found to be increased and the pores smaller than 8 nm decreased, while the total pore volume remained unchanged [42]. 50 °C is recommended as the most efficient drying temperature for cementitious materials, because it costs the least time the minimum microstructural alterations [43]

Summary

Introduction

Chloride-induced corrosion is nowadays the main durability concern for the reinforced concrete structures in marine environment. E.g. DuraCrete [2], relies on the chloride diffusion coefficient of saturated concrete. In the absence of sufficient knowledge about the effect of non-saturated state on chloride diffusion, the service life prediction based on the chloride diffusion coefficient of saturated concretes may give rise to misjudgement of the actual serviceability of reinforced concrete structures. In this regards a critical understanding of the non-saturated chloride diffusion is meaningful

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