Chloride Diffusion in Mortars - Effect of the Use of Limestone Sand Part II: Immersion Test

Part I of this study was devoted to the electrical accelerated chloride diffusion in mortars. In this second part, natural chloride diffusion has been investigated for four types of mortars under exposure to a 0.5 mol/L NaCl solution for a period of up to 35 days. Two different types of sand were used for the production of test samples: siliceous sand (used as a reference) and limestone sand (used in this study). The effect of water to cement ratio and exposure time on the diffusion coefficients of mortars was also investigated. In this study, the total and free chloride content and penetration depth of mortar were measured after immersion, and Fick's second law of diffusion was fitted to the experimental data to determine the diffusion coefficient. Their results show that the use of crushed limestone sand in mortar had a positive effect on the chloride resistance. The apparent diffusion coefficient in all specimens was smaller than that in siliceous sand mortar. However, the chloride penetration of these mortars was increased as exposure time progressed.