Rapid chloride permeability test on blended cement and other concretes: correlations between charge, initial current and conductivity

Abstract The rapid chloride permeability test has been largely used in recent years to evaluate the protection provided by concrete for steel reinforcement. Some doubts, however, have been expressed with regard to this test. The main criticism is that the conditions of measurements are severe and may cause both physical and chemical changes in the specimens, resulting in unrealistic values. In addition, it was shown in a previous work for one type of concrete tested, that there was a good correlation between total charge and both initial current and conductivity measured at the beginning of the test, suggesting the possibility of assessing the relative quality of concrete using these parameters. The main purpose of this investigation is to study the influence of concrete characteristics (type of binder, mix proportions, length of cure) on the mentioned correlations. The results obtained show that it is possible to use simplified procedures, which reduce the period of severe conditions and considerably shorten the length of time to perform the test.