The effects of mineral additions on chloride penetration into concrete under the frost action

Paper in proceedings, 2008

This paper presents the results from a study of the effects of mineral additions on chloride penetration into concrete under the frost action. Mineral additions namely fly-ash (FA), silica fume (SF), GGBF slag (SL) were used to replace some part of cement in concrete. Seven types of concrete were investigated. All specimens were immersed in tap water or NaCl solutions under the freeze-thaw (F-T) and the climate room conditions. The results showed that the frost action significantly increase liquid uptake in both plain Portland cement concrete and concrete with mineral additions whatever specimens were exposed to tap water or salt solutions. Incorporation of mineral additions in concrete can in general reduce the amount of uptaken liquid. As a conclusion, incorporation of mineral additions and proper entraining air pores in concrete can improve resistance of concrete to chloride penetration even under the frost action.