A CHLORIDE CONDUCTION TEST FOR CONCRETE

The paper describes the development of a very rapid test that measures the permeability of concrete to chloride ions. Once sample conditioni ng has been done, up to 20 concrete samples can be tested in an hour u sing a single conductivity cell. The test involves saturating a concre te sample with a 5 M NaCl solution, before measuring the conductivity of the sample. By saturating samples with a highly conductive solution , they have virtually the same pore water conductivity. Different conc rete samples yield different conductivities primarily because of diffe rences in their pore structure. The measured conductivity is related t o the diffusibility ratio as well as to the chloride diffusivity of th e concrete.