Influence of superabsorbent polymers on the chloride ingress of mortar measured by chloride diffusion and a quasi-steady-state migration test

Abstract

The ingress of chloride ions is a serious threat for concrete structures. Superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) are interesting additions to cementitious systems due to their property of absorbing water during mixing and releasing it at a later time to provide internal curing, thereby reducing shrinkage and promoting durability. In addition, SAPs can improve the regain in impermeability of cracks by swelling and blocking the crack and promoting autogenous healing. The current study investigates the influence of the addition of SAPs without additional mixing water to the chloride ingress in cracked mortar via diffusion and quasi-steady-state migration testing. Filtration tests showed that the charge-screening effect in a NaCl solution is more dominant than for cement filtrate solution during swelling of SAPs. After wet/dry cycling for a month, subsequent chloride diffusion tests with 2 and 6 weeks of exposure showed that the addition of SAPs improved the performance with respect to a reference mix with the same total water-to-cement ratio. A reference mix with the same effective water-to-cement ratio as the SAP mix had a comparable performance to the SAP mix. One set of chloride diffusion experiments showed that the SAP mix was the only one successfully preventing chloride ingress into the deepest zone of the crack. The superior performance of the series with SAPs was also confirmed by migration testing where cracked and healed specimens obtained a migration coefficient which was only 12 % higher than uncracked specimens.