Exploring the Detection of Cl− Penetration in Portland Cement Mortars via Surface Electrical Resistivity

Surface electrical resistivity is a non-destructive technique that is sensitive to the microstructure of hydrated cement paste and the chemical composition of the pore solution in cement-based materials. In this study, a Wenner array was used to measure changes in mortar resistivity due to chloride ion diffusion as a function of electrode separation. Specimens were made from four mortar mixtures: 100% Ordinary Portland cement and 60% cement + 40% fly ash at two water/binder ratios of 0.55 and 0.40. The specimens were subjected to unidirectional chloride ion diffusion in a 2.8 M NaCl solution for 175 days. To determine the chloride penetration depth, three methods were used: silver nitrate spraying, chloride concentration profiles via potentiometric titration, and chloride concentration profiles via inversion of the resistivity data using the RES1D software (version 1.00.09 Beta). The results showed a linear relationship between the chloride ion penetration depth obtained via inversion of the surface electrical resistivity data versus the penetration depth from colorimetry and from chloride concentration profiling (both with R2 = 0.8612). Chloride penetration changed the conductivity of the pore solution; therefore, the resistivity decreased when increasing both the chloride concentration and the penetration depth. Inversion of surface resistivity data obtained with a Wenner array permitted non-destructive determination of chloride penetration. However, these results were obtained under laboratory environmental conditions and other scenarios must be addressed for wider applications.