Artiiculo Cloruros - Materiales de Construccion Mayo2020
Artiiculo Cloruros - Materiales de Construccion Mayo2020
Artiiculo Cloruros - Materiales de Construccion Mayo2020
ABSTRACT: In this paper, the influence of additions of nanosilica (nSi) and microsilica (mSi) on the behav-
iour of binary and ternary mixtures in chloride environments is studied. The main objective is to obtain high-
performance self-compacting concrete (HPSCC) with a high durability which can meet specific demands in such
aggressive environments. Ten blends were manufactured using Portland cement (CEM I 52.5 R) and additions
of nSi and mSi in binary and ternary mixtures. The results of three tests frequently used to evaluate resistance to
chloride penetration– electrical resistivity, migration and chloride diffusion –were studied and compared. Both
binary and ternary mixtures presented significant improvements in chloride resistance, generally in proportion
to the total content of the addition. In all the ternary mixtures, high resistivity is obtained, which indicates that
such mixtures have a notably low chloride penetrability. Furthermore, these mixtures provided extremely low
chloride diffusion coefficients even at small addition ratios.
KEYWORDS: High-performance concrete; Active addition; Durability; Diffusion; Corrosion.
Citation/Citar como: Reyes, E.; Massana, J.; León, N.; Moragues, A. (2020) Behaviour of a high-performance self-
compacting concrete (HPSCC) with ternary mixtures of nano- and microsilica in the presence of chlorides. Mater.
Construcc. 70 [339], e221 https://doi.org/10.3989/mc.2020.10619
RESUMEN: Comportamiento frente a cloruros de un hormigón autocompactable de alta resistencia con mezclas
ternarias de nano y micro sílice. En este artículo se estudia la influencia en el comportamiento frente a cloruros
de la adición de nanosílice (nSi) y microsílice (mSi) en mezclas binarias y ternarias. El principal objetivo es
obtener un hormigón autocompactante de altas prestaciones con una alta durabilidad frente a estos ambientes
agresivos con cloruros. Se prepararon diez dosificaciones usando cemento Portland (CEM I 52.5 R) y adiciones
de nSi y mSi en mezclas binarias y ternarias. Se estudiaron y analizaron tres ensayos frecuentemente utilizados
para evaluar la resistencia a la penetración de cloruros, resistividad eléctrica, migración y difusión de cloruros.
Tanto las mezclas binarias como ternarias presentaron mejoras significativas en la resistencia a cloruros, en
general proporcional al contenido de adición. En todas las mezclas ternarias se ha obtenido alta resistividad,
indicando una penetrabilidad a cloruros notablemente baja. Estas mezclas proporcionaron un coeficiente de
difusión de cloruros extremadamente bajo, incluso para bajos contenidos de adición.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Hormigón de altas prestaciones; Adición activa; Durabilidad; Difusión; Corrosión.
Copyright: © 2020 CSIC. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.
2 • E. Reyes et al.
and mSi could improve strength and durability prop- using nano- and micrometric additions together
erties, particularly at greater ages. Gesoglu et al. (27) is combined with the enhancement of reactivity
focused on the effect of using nSi and mSi in binary derived from increased specific surface. The main
and ternary blends on the mechanical properties of objective is to obtain HPSCC with notably high
low-binder, ultra-high performance cementitious durability which can respond to specific demands.
composites. The results obtained with mixtures As previously mentioned, further knowledge of
containing nSi and mSi showed better mechanical how a concrete behaves when attacked by chlorides
behaviour than binary mixtures. Similarly, in previ- is one of the fundamental aspects in determining
ous work (28) the authors examined the fresh and concrete durability (1, 2). This work provides the
mechanical behaviour of binary and ternary mix- results of three tests frequently used to assess resis-
tures of HPSCC. Ternary mixtures showed better tance to chloride penetration: electrical resistivity
fresh behaviour than binary mixtures containing the (3–10), chloride migration and chloride diffusion.
same total amount of additions. Furthermore, these The model described in EHE (13) is used to estimate
ternary mixtures present the best mechanical behav- the service life of the structure from the values of
iour. However, there are few published works that the chloride diffusion coefficient. Analysis and com-
evaluate the effects of nSi, mSi and ternary combi- parison of the results obtained from the HPSCC
nations on the durability properties of HPSCC, such mixtures allow the study to find optimised dosages
as freeze-thaw and carbonation-process resistance, for the fabrication of high-sustainability structural
which are very important for concrete structures in elements in chloride-rich environments.
some aggressive environments (25, 29). For example,
freeze-thaw resistance is considered fundamental for 2. EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
both precast and on-site structural elements used in
natural environments with frequent frost action, 2.1. Materials used and mixture proportioning
such as high-mountain environments.
HPSCC seems to be a promising material for In this study, 10 blends were designed (31) for
many applications and structures. However, its per- obtaining HPSCC with CEM I 52.5 R (PC) cement
formance must be studied before it is widely adopted and two mineral admixtures, nSi and mSi, in different
in construction. Also, the behaviour of structural percentages in reference to cement weight. Table 1
elements made with HPSCC has to be more thor- presents the chemical composition and physical
oughly understood, and design provisions in step properties of the cementitious materials used. The
with the latest advances are needed. This paper nSi was dispersed in water, under the trade name
forms part of a larger research effort into the influ- of Levasil® 200/40%, with 40% solids by weight,
ence of binary and ternary mixtures of mSi and nSi a specific surface area of 200 m2g−1 and a particle
in different proportions on the properties of fresh- size of approximately 15 nm (see Table 1). The mSi
and hardened-state HPSCC (28, 29). Designing used was Elkem Microsilica® MS 940 U, a material
self-compacting mixtures with these additions is composed of nonporous amorphous spheres of
a challenge, due to the notable loss of workability SiO2 with submicron size and small agglomer-
they cause. Adequate SCC flowability was achieved ates, with a specific surface area of 15–30 m2g−1
in this study due to chemical additives compatible and a particle size of approximately 0.15 micron
with the mixture in suitable proportions. Although (see Table 1). Even when some of the spheres may be
there are some studies of the behaviour of SCC in found separately, the majority tend to form agglom-
resisting chlorides (30), there is a lack of published erates of primary particles with a size range from
research about the durability of SCC in chloride- 0.1 to 1.0 micron. Additions (nSi and mSi) were not
rich environments, despite the increase of its use. In used as a cement replacement, but as an additional
this paper, the chloride resistance of HPSCC pre- cementitious material.
pared with binary and ternary mixtures using mSi The aggregates and proportioning used in the
and nSi is studied at the reference age of 28 days. mixtures were as follows: 1160 kg/m3 of siliceous
In these mixtures, the effect of greater compactness sand (termed A) measuring less than 4 mm in diam-
due to the increased packing density derived from eter, with a fineness modulus of 3.30; 585 kg/m3
Table 1. Properties of Portland cement (PC) and mineral additions (nSi, mSi).
of rolled gravel (G) measuring 6 mm to 12 mm in and HAC[nmSi]-2.5/5). Table 2 shows the mixture
diameter; and 100 kg/m3 of limestone filler (LF) proportions.
with a granulometry in accordance with UNE The tests performed on the blends to determine
12620:2003+A1:2009 (32) and a maximum diam- self-compacting were as follows: slump-flow diam-
eter of 63 μm. All the SCCs were prepared using a eter [df (mm)], V‑funnel flow time [TV (s)] and L-box
water-to-cementitious material ratio (w/cm) of 0.36 height ratio [Cbl] (12, 13). The values obtained from
and 450 kg/m3 of cement. the tests for all the mixes were within the range that
Additionally, two chemical additives were used: guarantees self-compactability. Once hardened,
SIKA ViscoCrete® 5720, based on polycarboxyl- compressive strength, tensile strength and modu-
ate polymers (solids content 36%, density 1.09 kg/l), lus of elasticity were obtained to characterize the
as superplasticizer (SP) and SIKA Stabilizer® 4R mechanical and resistant properties of all blends.
(solids content 3–3.5%, density 1.03 kg/l) as stabi- Table 3 shows the fresh properties corresponding to
lizer (MV), which controls concrete viscosity with a self-compacting tests and the compressive strength
constant amount in mixtures of 0.15% by weight of at 28 days for all mixtures. Detailed information on
cement (wt.%). the results is available in previously published works
Ten HPSCC dosages were designed. In order to (28, 29).
obtain reference values to compare the results, an
HPSCC without mineral additions was prepared 2.2. Test programme
(CEM I 52.5 R as the sole cementitious mate-
rial), identified as HAC. Three dosages were made Pore-size distribution and total porosity were
with 2.5%, 5% and 7.5% nSi, which were respec- evaluated by Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP),
tively identified as HAC[nSi]-2.5, HAC[nSi]-5 and according to ASTM D4404-84 (2004), using a
HAC[nSi]-7.5. Three more were made with 2.5%, 5% Micromeritics Autopore IV 9500 at a maximum
and 7.5% mSi, which were identified as HAC[mSi]-2.5, pressure of 33,000 psi, with a range of 5 nm to
HAC[mSi]-5 and HAC[mSi]-7.5. Lastly, the remain- 180 µm.
ing three dosages were made by using admixtures of For electrical resistivity tests, cylindrical moulds
both nSi and mSi (ternary mixtures) in percentages, 200 mm long and 100 mm in diameter were used to
respectively, of 2.5%/2.5%, 5%/2.5% and 2.5%/5% prepare a total of 30 specimens (three specimens per
(identified as HAC[nmSi]-2.5/2.5, HAC[nmSi]-5/2.5 dosage). Electrical resistivity was determined by a
non-destructive test carried out under room con- In order to determine the chloride migration coef-
ditions on samples saturated to constant weight. ficient, two slices 100 mm in diameter and 50 mm in
Mortars were tested at 7, 28 and 365 days to analyse length for each mixture were tested according to the
their evolution over time after a 28-day curing pro- NT BUILD 492 (1999) standard (35). These slices
cess at room temperature (20 ± 2°C) and 95% rela- were taken from the central part of the cylindrical
tive humidity. This test was carried out according to specimens (diameter 100 mm, height 200 mm) after
UNE 83988-1 (33) using Giatec RCON equipment. 28 days of curing, prepared according to the stan-
Such equipment measures electrical resistance with dardised procedure and subjected to a difference in
frequencies from 1 to 30 kHz. Electrical resistivity electric potential for a specified time. Each slice was
was then calculated using Equation [1]. Each mix- then cracked axially by the indirect traction method
ture’s resistivity was calculated as the average value with a press. Then a solution of silver nitrate 0.1 M
from three measurements. was applied to the surface of the specimens, and the
depth of chloride penetration was measured. The
ρe = K ⋅ Re [1] non-steady-state migration coefficient (Dnssm) is
obtained by Equation [3]:
where:
ρe: electrical resistivity (Ω m) Dnssm =
0.0239( 273 + T ) L X d − 0.0238
( 273 + T ) L X [3]
d
Table 5. Total porosity and percentage of macro- and micropore values for all mixtures.
it is significantly superior to previous approaches. resistivity. The use of two sizes of additions may
McPolin et al. in 2005 (43) carried out an investiga- contribute to a better packing of the component
tion to monitor the rate of ingress of chlorides in particles of the material. The difficulty of com-
concrete with additions to mixtures. They obtained paction of mixtures with a high nanosilica content
the chloride profiles and determined the resistivity could explain the results.
of the concrete in order to assess if resistivity could In general, an increase in electrical resistivity was
be used to determine the presence of chlorides. The obtained with time. However, the resistivity values
results of the resistivity profiles corresponded well at 365 days of curing for the HAC[nSi]-7.5 and
with the chloride profiles. More recently, in 2014 HAC[nmSi]-2.5/5 mixtures were lower than those
Andrade et al. (44) developed an alternative model obtained at 28 days. This may be due to a notably
to calculate the service life of reinforced concrete low capillary absorption of the mixtures containing
based on electrical resistivity. a greater total amount of nanosilica addition, which
The average values of electrical resistivity at 7, 28 would result in especially good chloride resistance .
and 365 curing days for mixtures with nSi, mSi and It may also be observed that the addition of
ternary mixtures of nmSi are shown, respectively, in nanosilica produced a significant increase in resis-
Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3. All concretes with tivity at seven days of curing: up to 675.3% for the
additions presented a significantly higher electrical HAC[nSi]-7.5 mixture, in comparison with HAC
resistivity than did the concrete without additions. alone. This result could be of significant impor-
An increase in resistivity was observed when the tance in applications where low chloride penetrabil-
addition percentage was increased, both for binary ity at an early age is required. The percentages of
and ternary mixtures, regardless of the type of addi- increment decreased at later ages of curing, and the
tion. Among the mixtures with a higher addition improvement lessened with a lower content of total
content, the highest resistivity figures were obtained addition. Even so, the smallest increase in resistivity
for the mixtures with 7.5% microsilica, and the low- was 42% for HAC[nSi]-2.5 at 365 days of curing.
est figures were found for the concrete with 7.5% In the case of mixtures with mSi, a significant
nanosilica. However, in the case of the ternary mix- increase in electrical resistivity from 7 to 28 days
tures, the mixture containing the highest amount of of curing was observed. The percentages of these
microsilica was not that which showed the highest increases in electrical resistivity with respect to the
Figure 1. Average values and error bars of electrical resistivity at 7, 28 and 365 curing days for mixtures with nSi additions.
Figure 2. Average values and error bars of electrical resistivity at 7, 28 and 365 curing days for mixtures with mSi additions.
Figure 3. Average values and error bars of electrical resistivity at 7, 28 and 365 curing days for mixtures with ternary
mixtures of nmSi.
reference range from 53.01% (HAC[mSi]-2.5) to the amount of mSi). This may explain the resistivity
142.73% (HAC[mSi]-7.5) at seven days of curing results; the best values at both ages came from the
and vary from 193.36% (HAC[mSi]-2.5) to 905% ternary mixtures, possibly because of their having a
(HAC[mSi]-7.5) at 28 days. continuous particle size distribution from the small-
Among the ternary mixtures, HAC[nmSi]-5/2.5 est particle size (addition) to the largest particle size
presented the highest electrical resistivity, with (coarse aggregate) in the dosage of the mixture.
925.16 Ωm after 28 days of curing. These concretes, Table 6 shows the classification of chloride pen-
like the binary mixtures with the addition of mSi, etrability at 7, 28 and 365 days of curing, according
experienced the highest increase in their electrical to the ASTM C1202 standard (34). The reference
resistivity from 7 to 28 days. concrete (HAC) ranges from moderate penetrability
The improvement in resistivity behaviour at 7 and 28 days to significantly low penetrability at
achieved with nSi at seven days may be attributed 365 days of curing. The concretes with the nanosilica
to pore refinement, a reduction in the percentage of addition are classified as having a significantly low
macropores due to the pozzolanic reaction and the penetrability as of seven days of curing. Binary mix-
packing effect observed at early ages. Binary mix- tures with microsilica exhibit low penetrability after
tures with nSi showed a pore size reduction propor- seven days of curing and notably low penetrability
tional to the amount of addition. In binary mixtures after 28 days of curing. Lastly, ternary mixtures are
with mSi, the microstructure produced had a signifi- classified as having an especially low penetrability as
cantly lower total porosity at 28 days due to a slower of seven days of curing.
pozzolanic reaction, reaching resistivity values simi- Given these results, it is noteworthy that con-
lar to binary mixtures with nSi at this age. The aver- cretes with nanosilica are classified in the same
age pore size of binary mixtures with mSi was similar level in both binary and ternary mixtures, providing
to that of the reference concrete. Lastly, the ternary notably low chloride penetrability from early ages.
mixtures developed a microstructure that is a result It is also important to mention that the classifica-
of the combination of both effects, exhibiting a tion places all concretes, including the reference con-
small average pore size (proportional to the amount crete, in the same category at 365 days. Therefore,
of nSi) and a lower total porosity (proportional to if only this category were considered, the use of
Table 6. Classification of chloride penetrability at 7, 28 and 365 days of curing, according to the ASTM C1202 standard.
different additions would seem irrelevant after one In Figure 5 a significant decrease can be observed
year. This is because the classification establishes with the increase of the content of addition. The
a rather wide range for the real values of resistiv- decrease was 85.89% for HAC[mSi]-7.5. The coef-
ity in each category and assigns chloride penetra- ficient in this type of concrete presented lower val-
bility levels on the sole basis of whether the value ues than in concretes with nanosilica, except for
lies within this wide range . This should be noted, HAC[mSi]-7.5, which has a slightly higher coeffi-
since concretes that differ by as much as 350% in cient (16.73%) than HAC[nSi]-7.5.
electrical resistivity (as is the case of HAC[mSi]-7.5 Figure 6 shows that ternary specimens had val-
in comparison with the reference concrete) lie within ues of under 1×10−12 m2/s in all cases. In the case
the same category. In addition, this classification of HAC[nmSi]-2.5/2.5, with 5% total addition, the
does not allow the service life of a concrete to be chloride migration coefficient was similar to that
estimated. obtained with 7.5% of either addition separately.
The percentages of decrease of the chloride migra-
3.3. Chloride migration coefficient tion coefficient in these concretes are 84.45% for
HAC[nmSi]-2.5/2.5, 90.42% for HAC[nmSi]-5/2.5
Ion transport in mortar specimens was evaluated and 89.50% for HAC[nmSi]-2.5/5, in comparison
though chloride migration tests according to the with the reference concrete HAC. When comparing
NT BUILD 492 standard (18), which enabled the ternary mixtures with a 7.5% total addition content,
non-steady-state migration coefficient (Dnssm) to a slightly lower chloride migration coefficient was
be obtained. obtained with the higher percentage of nanosilica
Figure 4, Figure 5, and Figure 6 show the aver- addition, HAC[nmSi]-5/2.5.
age values of the chloride migration coefficient for To study how the amount of addition influences
three specimens containing mixtures with nSi and the chloride migration coefficient, three regression
mSi and ternary mixtures of nmSi, respectively, curves have been calculated, one for each type of
compared with HAC, all at 28 curing days. concrete with additions (see Figure 7). Here a good
As can been observed in Figure 4, the chloride fit may be observed by means of an exponential
migration coefficient decreases significantly in com- regression with an R2 of 0.995 for concrete with nSi,
parison with the reference with the increase in the 0.981 for concrete with mSi and 0.976 for concrete
nanosilica content. The values vary from 43.11% with both additions. Binary and ternary mixtures fol-
for HAC[nSi]-2.5 to 87.91% for HAC[nSi]-7.5. The low similar trends, indicating that the effectiveness of
chloride migration coefficient for the reference con- silica against migration depends mainly on its pozzo-
crete is 6.29x10−12 m2/s. Since this lies below 10×10−12 lanic activity. Results are similar for the same amount
m2/s, the concrete is considered notably resistant to of total addition, depending only slightly on particle
chloride penetration. A chloride migration coeffi- size. As the amount of total addition increases, the
cient below this reference value means the estimated chloride migration coefficient tends to present similar
service life of the concrete is high. Therefore, reduc- values. This may be observed in the case of all con-
ing the coefficient to values such as 0.76×10−12 m2/s cretes with the 7.5% addition: their values range from
might represent a significant increase in the useful 0.60·10‑12 m2/s for HAC[nmSi]-5/2.5 to 0.89·10−12 m2/s
life of concrete structures. for HAC[mSi]-7.5 and thus are close to overlapping.
Figure 4. Average values and error bars of chloride migration coefficient at 28 curing days for mixtures with nSi compared with HAC.
Figure 5. Average values and error bars of chloride migration coefficient at 28 curing days for mixtures with mSi compared with HAC.
Figure 6. Average values and error bars of chloride migration coefficient at 28 curing days for mixtures with ternary mixtures of
nmSi compared with HAC.
Figure 7. Regression curves of the influence of addition amount on the chloride migration coefficient.
Given the results, the use of addition provides might mean a qualitative advance in the durability
HPSCC with good resistance against chloride of the material, which would result in a significant
migration, as the published literature has shown increase of service life or a notable reduction of
(45–47). However, reducing the coefficient from the coating thicknesses of reinforced structural ele-
43% to 50% by using a 2.5% addition, as shown ments in aggressive environments.
in this work, represents a significant improvement. Other published works have identified relation-
This enhanced behaviour is due to the densification ships between the chloride migration coefficient
of the microstructure of the concrete (28, 29) and and electrical resistivity (44, 48). Figure 8 shows the
potential correlation between these two parameters HAC. However, concrete with nSi has an amount of
for the concretes after 28 days of curing. As may be free chlorides similar to that of HAC, though it has
observed, the potential correlation presents a good a notably lower amount of total chlorides, which
fit (R2 = 0.9576). means that the concentration of combined chlorides
is lower than in the reference concrete. This figure
3.4. Total, free and binding chloride concentration shows that the addition of mSi leaves fewer free
profiles chlorides at the same depths, giving the concrete an
increase in its chloride binding capacity.
This section shows the results of chloride dif- The penetration profiles of the concretes with a
fusion testing according to the CEN/TS 12390-11 total addition of 5% are shown in Figure 10, con-
standard (36), studying how the total amount of firming the behaviour of the mSi. In this case, the
silica addition influences the penetration profile. amount of chlorides obtained with HAC[mSi]-5
Figures 9a, 9b, 9c, 10a, 10b, 10c, 11a, 11b and 11c and HAC[nmSi]-2.5/2.5 is similar. However, the
show the profiles of total (a), free (b) and combined percentage of free chlorides is lower for the case
(c) chlorides of the concretes with a total addition of binary concrete with mSi. The ternary mixture
of 2.5%, 5% and 7.5%, respectively, in comparison HAC[nmSi]-2.5/2.5 presented the second-lowest
with the reference concrete, HAC. percentage of free chlorides and the lowest content
Figure 9 shows that HAC[nSi]-2.5 and of combined chlorides.
HAC[mSi]-2.5 have a similar total chloride penetra- The case of the concretes with a total addition of
tion depth, significantly lower than the depth for 7.5% is shown in Figure 11. All cases presented sim-
ilar profiles of total, free and combined chlorides
and closely grouped depths of penetration. In this
case, with 7.5% nSi the chloride binding capacity
was close to the capacity with 7.5% mSi. Likewise,
regardless of the combination of additions, the
behaviour of these concretes was closely grouped.
This means that, for this amount of total addition,
the size of the addition does not significantly influ-
ence chloride penetration, which mainly depends on
the activity of the silica.
Figure 9. Chloride concentration profiles of the concretes with a total addition of 2.5% compared with HAC:
a) total chlorides, b) free chlorides, c) combined chlorides.
Figure 10. Chloride concentration profiles of the concretes with a total addition of 5% compared with HAC: a) total chlorides,
b) free chlorides, c) combined chlorides.
Figure 11. Chloride concentration profiles of the concretes with a total addition of 7.5% compared with HAC: a) total chlorides,
b) free chlorides, c) combined chlorides.
Figure 12. Chloride diffusion coefficient for mixtures with nSi compared with HAC.
HAC[nSi]-7.5. The chloride diffusion coefficient when the percentage of total addition is 7.5%. Then
behaviour of these concretes is somewhat different the concretes exhibit similar behaviour with compa-
from their chloride migration coefficient behaviour; rable degrees of total, free and combined chloride
when the amount of addition was increased from concentration, as well as similar chloride diffusion
2.5% to 5%, the decrease in the diffusion coefficient coefficients. This could mean that the behaviour of
was only 8.12%, whereas the effect was much stron- 7.5% additions does not depend on silica size.
ger in the case of the migration coefficient. Figure 15 shows the correlation between the chlo-
Figure 13 shows a similar trend in the case of ride diffusion coefficient and the chloride migration
binary concretes with nanosilica, although they coefficient for the concretes studied.
exhibit a nearly linear decrease of their chloride The figure shows a linear relationship with a
diffusion coefficient with the percentage of addi- fairly good fit, R2 = 0.9571, between the parameters.
tion. In this case, the percentages of decrease were Therefore, given that the information provided by
50.99% for HAC[mSi]-2.5, 75.54% for HAC[mSi]-5 the migration test follows the same trend as that of
and 86.09% for HAC[mSi]-7.5. the chloride diffusion test, such information could
Figure 14 shows that for ternary mixtures the be used in studies of concrete behaviour with respect
chloride diffusion coefficient was reduced by 78 to to chloride penetration. This is important due to the
87% in comparison with the value obtained for HAC. reduction in time, since use of the chloride migra-
The concrete with the lowest diffusion coefficient is tion test provides quantitative results in a maximum
the same that presented the lowest chloride migration of five days, whereas with a natural diffusion test
coefficient, HAC[nmSi]-5/2.5; it presented a value of 90 days of exposure are necessary before proceed-
2.03×10−13 m2/s. The other ternary mixtures exhibited ing to the chloride valuation to find the diffusion
similar values: 3.43×10−13 for HAC[nmSi]-2.5/2.5 and coefficient.
2.74×10−13 m2/s for HAC[nmSi]-2.5/5. Figure 16 shows the potential correlation
The study of total, free and combined chloride between resistivity and the chloride diffusion coef-
penetration presented in the previous section might ficient for the concretes studied. The fit is good
explain why the chloride diffusion coefficient is (R2 = 0.9605).
higher for binary concretes with nSi than for binary These accurate fits might allow relations to be
concretes with mSi when the percentage of addition established for inferring values, although the experi-
is 2.5% or 5%. This might be caused by a greater mental campaign would have to be extended in
chloride binding capacity provided by the addition order to validate the correlations in HPSCC with
of mSi to concrete. However, this trend changes micro- and nanosilica additions.
Figure 13. Chloride diffusion coefficient for mixtures with mSi compared with HAC.
Figure 14. Chloride diffusion coefficient for mixtures of nmSi compared with HAC.
Figure 15. Correlation line between the chloride Figure 16. Correlation curve between resistivity and
diffusion coefficient and the chloride migration coefficient chloride diffusion coefficient for the mixtures.
for the mixtures.
Structure service life may be estimated using with nSi. As the amount of addition increases,
the model described in EHE 08 (13) and the chlo- the time to chloride penetration to the same depth
ride diffusion coefficient obtained by this study. increases, too. As a reference, a continuous line is
The chloride penetration coefficient KCl is calcu- represented at 20 mm of depth, so that the time
lated by Equation [7]. The calculation assumes the taken to start corrosion with a coating of this
worst-case values from EHE 08 (13): Cth= 0.6% thickness may be established. For HAC the cor-
and Cs = 0.7%. From the KCl calculated, the depth rosion initiation time is slightly greater than 100
of chloride penetration is obtained as a function of years, while when only 2.5% nSi is added the esti-
time and can be represented. mated time is 219 years. This indicates that the
Figure 17 shows the estimated chloride pene- use of nSi additions could reduce coating thick-
tration by natural diffusion as a function of time ness while maintaining the service life established
for the reference concrete and binary concretes by regulations.
The estimated times of chloride penetration in Lastly, the estimate of chloride penetration for
binary concretes with mSi are shown in Figure 18. ternary concretes is shown in Figure 19. In this
As in the case of nSi, the penetration time decreases type of concrete, HAC[nmSi]-5/2.5 presented the
as the amount of addition in the concrete increases. best chloride resistance, as might be expected from
The corrosion initiation times for a coating of the diffusion coefficient results. The corrosion ini-
20 mm range from 238 years for HAC[mSi]-2.5 to tiation time for a coating of 20 mm is 543 years for
839 years for HAC[mSi]-7.5. HAC[nmSi]-2.5/2.5, 918 years for HAC[nmSi]-5/2.5
and 681 years for HAC[nmSi]-2.5/5.
Table 7 shows the estimated corrosion initiation
time for a structural element coating of 20 mm of each
concrete studied, listed according to the total addition.
Adding 2.5% nano- or microsilica yields similar
estimated corrosion initiation times regardless of
the size of the addition. Both additions double the
corrosion initiation time for HAC, although micro-
silica provides a slightly higher value.
In the case of concretes with a total addition
of 5%, the estimated corrosion initiation time for
binary concrete with mSi is 85% higher than that of
binary concrete with nSi. This might be due to the
difficulty of compaction of mixtures with a high nSi
content. However, the longest corrosion initiation
time is obtained with the ternary mixture, probably
due to a packing effect and the low porosity created
by a wider particle size distribution (29).
HAC[nmSi]-5/2.5 has the longest estimated ser-
vice life of all the mixtures featuring a total addi-
tion of 7.5%. This mixture represents the best
combination of nano- and microsilica addition for
resisting chloride penetration, probably due to the
optimisation of the packing effect, overcoming the
Figure 17. Estimated chloride penetration by natural
diffusion as a function of time for the reference concrete and difficulties in compaction caused by considerable
binary concretes with nSi. percentages of nSi.
Figure 18. Estimated chloride penetration by natural Figure 19. Estimated chloride penetration by natural
diffusion as a function of time for the reference concrete and diffusion as a function of time for the reference concrete and
binary concretes with mSi. ternary concretes with nmSi.
The experimental results and the estimated ser- the addition of nanosilica. However, when classified
vice life may be interpreted by taking into account by resistivity, all mixtures, both binary and ternary,
that nano- and microsilica additions reduce the exhibit a notably low chloride penetrability.
amount of interconnected pores, since their incor- Similarly, binary mixtures prepared with micro-
poration in cement blends leads to a refinement of silica exhibit lower chloride migration coefficients
the porous network and changes the ionic concen- than binary mixtures with nanosilica. Significantly
tration in the pore solution (49, 50). These addi- lower values are obtained with ternary mixtures,
tions combine pozzolanic action, which increases however, even in the case of the mixture with the
the amount of C-S-H gels, with the filling effect, as smallest amount of each addition.
the small size of the addition particles blocks small The addition of microsilica provides the concrete
pores and prevents their interconnection. with a greater capacity for chloride combination
The results shown in Table 7 indicate that ter- than does the addition of nanosilica for percentages
nary mixtures might be the best for improving the less than or equal to 5%.
durable properties of concrete, since in the worst Binary mixtures prepared with microsilica have
case their estimated service life ranges from over five lower chloride diffusion coefficients than binary
times higher to over eight times higher than that of mixtures with nanosilica at 28 days. However, the
HAC. This could be explained by considering that combination of both additions in ternary mix-
in ternary mixtures pores are filled more efficiently, tures results in significantly low chloride diffusion
causing them to reduce interconnection to a greater coefficients, even at small addition ratios. Further
extent, as the particle size continuity is greater (29). future study including additional parameters, such
Additionally, ternary mixtures show good self- as chloride diffusion coefficients at different ages, is
compacting properties (see Table 3) while demand- necessary in order to examine the influence of nSi
ing a lower SP content than nSi binary mixtures that and mSi on the durability of concrete mixtures, in
contain the same total amount of additions, and particular at early ages, where the microstructure
they do not present the same handling difficulties as improvements obtained are promising.
blends with nS alone. Furthermore, these mixtures The chloride diffusion coefficients and the con-
present the best mechanical behaviour. centrations of total, free and combined chlorides
were similar in each concrete containing a total
4. CONCLUSIONS addition of 7.5%, regardless of the amount of silica
addition.
HPSCC with the addition of nano- and microsil- The addition of nano- and microsilica in binary
ica in binary and ternary mixtures presents signifi- and ternary mixtures leads to notably low chloride
cant improvements in chloride-resistant behaviour. diffusion coefficients, with a significant increase in
This improvement is in general proportional to the the estimated service life according to Spanish regu-
total content of addition. The use of nSi and mSi lations. These results might also allow the thickness
may have a positive effect on improving the micro- of cover to reinforcement to be reduced without
structure and reducing the internal pore structure leading to negative consequences for structure
from early stages. durability.
In binary mixtures the addition of microsilica
presents higher values of electrical resistivity than ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Table 7. Estimated corrosion initiation The authors wish to express their gratitude to
time for a 20-mm coating. the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
Corrosion Increase with
(Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación), project
Amount of initiation respect to RTI2018-100962-B-I00, for financial support.
addition Concrete time (years) HAC (years)
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