Limits on chloride
recommended
New guidelines on concrete ingredients
from ACI Committee 201 aim at less corrosion
merican Concrete Institute (ACI) Committee
A 201, Durability of Co n c re t e, has made a rec-
ommendation on the maximum amount of
chloride ion that can be allowed in the ingredi-
ents of concrete containing steel. The limit applies to
the sum of the chloride ions from all sources—cement,
a d m i x t u re s, aggregates and water—used in making
concrete. The purpose of the new recommendation is
to minimize the amount of electrochemical corrosion
of rebars or prestressing steel. The recommended lim-
its, shown in the accompanying table, have been agreed
upon by Committee 201 and also by ACI Committee
222, Corrosion of Metals in Concrete.
The recommendation is, howe ve r, qualified by con-
siderable discussion, since the effect of chloride on cor-
rosion of steel is a complicated subject and the rate of
corrosion is subject to a number of influences, including
the nature of the chloride and the vagaries of exposure
conditions. Fu rt h e rm o re, the analytical determination
of total chloride may provide all the information needed
if the amount is well within the recommended limits. If
not, it is necessary to determine soluble chloride, a more
difficult analysis. All of this is discussed in the new re-
port, “Guide to Durable Concrete,” by ACI Committee
201, Journal of the American Concrete Institute, Decem-
ber 1977, pages 573 to 609. The specific discussion on
chloride limitation is given in Section 4.5.4, page 593.
Zero chloride content impractical
The recommendation was prompted by the potential
hazard that chlorides present to concrete containing
steel in marine environments or other exposures to sol-
uble salts. In effect the recommendation precludes us-
ing seawater in the mix, admixtures containing chloride,
aggregates washed with seawater or aggregates that con-
tain chloride salts from any other source.
A specification calling for a zero chloride content for
a concrete mix would be impossible to realize in prac-
tice. This is because chlorides, which are among the
more abundant materials on earth, are present to some
extent in all of the ingredients of concrete.
When does chloride cause corrosion?
There is a threshold value for a chloride content in
concrete which must be reached before corrosion of em-
Limits for chloride ion in concrete prior to
exposure in service
Recommendation of ACI Committee 201
Kind of concrete or service
Chloride ion,
percent by weight
of cement
Prestressed concrete 0.06
Conventionally reinforced concrete
located in a moist environment 0.10
and exposed to chloride
Conventionally reinforced concrete
located in a moist environment 0.15
but not exposed to chloride
Above ground building construction
where the concrete will stay dry (does
not include locations where the No limit
concrete will be occasionally wetted— for protection
such as kitchens, parking garages against corrosion*
and waterfront structures)
* If calcium chloride is used as an admixture, it is generally rec-
ommended that the limit be set at 2 percent calcium chloride
by weight of cement for reasons other than corrosion.
bedded steel can begin. This value can be as low as 0.15
percent by weight of cement. One might easily conclude
that 0.15 percent should always be specified as the max-
imum allowable limit. Howe ve r, such an approach does
not take into account whether the chloride is physically
available. Nor does it consider whether or not steel, oxy-
gen and moisture (the other components necessary for
corrosion) will be present.
The Committee states that any meaningful discussion
of limits for chloride ion must take into account the form
in which the chloride occurs. Chloride in concrete may
be in the water-soluble form or chemically combined
with other ingredients. Soluble chlorides induce corro-
sion but chemically combined chloride is believed to
have little effect. Some data indicate that a large part of
the chloride in a calcium chloride admixture combines
chemically with the cement and thus becomes unavail-
able to induce corrosion. Some chloride-bearing aggre-
gates have a high total chloride content, very little of
which is soluble. Other aggregates with high chloride
content are known to have caused corrosion.
Testing
Were it equally simple to test for total chloride or solu-
ble chloride it would be logical to measure only the sol-
uble chloride content of concrete. But tests for soluble
chloride are time-consuming and difficult. Results may
be thrown out of line by variations in sample size, boiling
time, soaking time, temperature and quantity of distilled
water used. On the other hand the test for total chloride
is not significantly affected by these factors. For this rea-
son it is common to measure the total (soluble plus com-
bined) chloride and to test for soluble chloride only
when followup studies appear to be needed.
From the above discussion it should be obvious that
good judgment should be exercised in the application
of the Committee’s limits because other factors (mois-
ture and oxygen) are always necessary for electrochemi-
cal corrosion.
Additional recommendations on the use of chloride in
concrete have been made by ACI Committee 212, Ad-
mixtures in Concrete, and ACI Committee 443, Concrete
Bridge Design.
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