Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Experimental study on physical sulfate salt attack

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Materials and Structures Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Sulfate attack can cause severe damage to concrete structures. The most common mitigation strategy against chemical sulfate attack in concrete is reduction of water to cementitious materials ratio, use of low-C3A Portland cements, and/or use of supplementary cementitious materials. However, physical salt attack from sodium sulfate exposure may still cause damage to concrete with low water to cementitious materials ratio, and supplementary cementitious materials have been reported to even reduce resistance to physical salt attack. The purpose of the current research is to study the effect of water to cementitious materials ratio and supplementary cementitious materials on the ability of mortar to resist physical salt attack. Mortars, made with water to cementitious materials ratios between 0.35 and 0.50, and with two levels of cement replacement by either fly ash or ground granulated blast-furnace slag, were exposed to physical sulfate attack. Mass loss due to physical sulfate salt attack and its relationship with pore structure and transport properties were studied. The results show a good correlation between the resistance to physical salt attack and the pore threshold radius using mercury intrusion porosimetry, as well as the chloride migration coefficient. For the curing conditions used, ground granulated blast-furnace slag was found to improve the resistance to physical salt attack, while fly ash demonstrated a negative effect.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Hooton R (2015) Current developments and future needs in standards for cementitious materials. Cem Concr Res 78:165–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Haynes H, O’Neill R, Mehta PK (1996) Concrete deterioration from physical attack by salts. Concr Int 18(1):63–68

    Google Scholar 

  3. Mehta P, Monteiro PJM (2006) Concrete: microstructure, properties, and materials, 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  4. Haynes H, O’Neill R, Neff M, Mehta PK (2008) Salt weathering distress on concrete exposed to sodium sulfate environment. ACI Mater J 105(1):35–43

    Google Scholar 

  5. Stark DC (2002) Performance of Concrete in Sulfate Environments. Portland Cement Association, Skokie

    Google Scholar 

  6. ACI 318-14 (2014) Building code requirements for structural concrete and commentary. American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills

    Google Scholar 

  7. CSA A23.1-14 (2014) Concrete materials and methods of concrete construction. Canadian Standards Association, Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  8. Haynes H, Bassuoni M (2011) Physical salt attack on concrete. Concr Int 33(11):38–42

    Google Scholar 

  9. Verbeck GJ (1968) Field and laboratory studies of the sulfate resistance of concrete. In: Performance of concrete. A symposium in honor of Thorbergur Thorvaldson, ACI and National Research Council of Canada, Reprinted as Portland Cement Association Bulletin RX227

  10. Stark D (1989) Durability of concrete in sulfate rich soils. Portland Cement Association, Skokie

    Google Scholar 

  11. Irassar E, Di Maio A, Batic O (1996) Sulfate attack on concrete with mineral admixtures. Cem Concr Res 26(1):113–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Yoshida N, Matsunami Y, Nagayama M, Sakai E (2010) Salt weathering in residential concrete foundations exposed to sulfate-bearing ground. J Adv Concr Technol 8(2):121–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Liu Z, Deng D, De Schutter G (2014) Does concrete suffer sulfate salt weathering? Constr Build Mater 66(15):692–701

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. ASTM C452-15 (2015) Standard test method for potential expansion of portland-cement mortars exposed to sulfate. American Society for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken

    Google Scholar 

  15. ASTM C1012-15 (2015) Standard test method for length change of hydraulic-cement mortars exposed to a sulfate solution. American Society for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken

    Google Scholar 

  16. Folliard K, Sandberg P (1994) Mechanisms of concrete deterioration by sodium sulfate crystallization. In: Durability of concrete, proceedings third CANMET-ACI international conference, ACI SP145, Nice

  17. Bassuoni M, Nehdi M (2009) Durability of self-consolidating concrete to different exposure regimes of sodium sulfate attack. Mater Struct 42(8):1039–1057

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Wassermann R, Katz A, Bentur A (2009) Minimum cement content requirements: a must or a myth? Mater Struct 47(2):973–982

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Halamickova P, Detwiler R, Bentz D, Garboczi E (1995) Water permeability and chloride ion diffusion in portland cement mortars: relationship to sand content and critical pore diameter. Cem Concr Res 25(4):790–802

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. ASTM C1437-13 (2013) Standard test method for flow of hydraulic cement mortar. American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  21. ASTM C185-08 (2018) Standard test method for air content of hydraulic cement mortar. American Society for Testing and Materials, Rantoul

    Google Scholar 

  22. NT BUILD 492 (1999) Concrete, mortar and cement-based repair materials: chloride migration coefficient from non-steady-state migration experiments. Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen

    Google Scholar 

  23. Mindess S, Young J, Darwin D (2003) Concrete, 2nd edn. Prentice-Hall Inc, Upper Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

  24. Diamond S (2000) Mercury porosimetry. An inappropriate method for the measurement of pore size distributions in cement-based materials. Cem Concr Res 30(10):1517–1525

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Dhir R, El-Mohr M, Dyer T (1997) Developing chloride resisting concrete using PFA. Cem Concr Res 27(11):1633–1639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Wiens U, Schiessl P (1997) Chloride binding of cement paste containing fly ash. In: Proceedings of the 10th international congress on the chemistry of cement, Goteborg

  27. Nielsen EP, Geiker MR (2004) The durability of white Portland cement to chemical attack. BYG-Rapport; No. R-084, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby

  28. Nielsen E, Herfort D, Geiker M (2005) Binding of chloride and alkalis in Portland cement systems. Cem Concr Res 35(1):117–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Yuan Q, Shi C, Schutter G, Audenaert K, Deng D (2009) Chloride binding of cement-based materials subjected to external chloride environment—a review. Constr Build Mater 23(1):1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Thaulow N, Sahu S (2004) Mechanism of concrete deterioration due to salt crystallization. Mater Charact 53(2–4):123–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Rodriguez-Navarro C, Doehne E, Sebastian E (2000) How does sodium sulfate crystallize? Implications for the decay and testing of building materials. Cem Concr Res 30(10):1527–1534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Steiger M, Asmussen S (2008) Crystallization of sodium sulfate phases in porous materials: the phase diagram Na2SO4-H2O and the generation of stress. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 72(17):4291–4306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Hime WG, Martinek RA, Backus LA, Marusin SL (2001) Salt hydration distress. Concr Int 23(10):43–50

    Google Scholar 

  34. Tsui N, Flatt R, Scherer G (2003) Crystallization damage by sodium sulfate. J Cult Herit 4(2):109–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Scherer GW (2004) Stress from crystallization of salt. Cem Concr Res 34(9):1613–1624

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toronto, 35 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A4, USA

    Semion Zhutovsky & R. Douglas Hooton

Authors
  1. Semion Zhutovsky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. Douglas Hooton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Semion Zhutovsky.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhutovsky, S., Douglas Hooton, R. Experimental study on physical sulfate salt attack. Mater Struct 50, 54 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-016-0936-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-016-0936-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation