Rapid chloride permeability test for durability study of carbon nanoreinforced mortar

The addition of a conductive admixture in a cement-based material could lead to innovative products with multi-functional features. These materials are designed to possess enhanced properties, such as improved mechanical properties, electrical and thermal conductivity, and piezo-electric characteristics. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be used as nano-reinforcement in cement-based materials because of their huge aspect ratio as well as their extremely large specific surface area. For cement-based composites, one of the major types of environmental attack is the chloride ingress, which leads to corrosion of the material and, subsequently, to the reduction of strength and serviceability of the structure. A common method of preventing such deterioration is to avert chlorides from penetrating the structure. The penetration of the concrete by chloride ions is a slow process. It cannot be determined directly in a time frame that would be useful as a quality control measure. Therefore, in order to assess chloride penetration, a test method that accelerates the process is needed, to allow the determination of diffusion values in a reasonable time. In the present research, nano-modified mortars with various concentrations of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (0.2% wt. cement CNTs - 0.6% wt. cement CNTs) were used. The chloride penetration in these materials was monitored according to ASTM C1202 standard. This is known as the Coulomb test or Rapid Chloride Permeability Test (RCPT).