Non-destructive analysis of chlorine in fly ash cement concrete

Preventive measures against reinforcement corrosion in concrete require increasing concrete density to prevent the diffusion of chloride ions to the steel surface. Pozzolanic materials, such as fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), and blast furnace slag (BFS) are added to concrete to increase its density. Monitoring the chloride concentration in concrete is required to assess the chances of reinforcement corrosion. In this study, FA was added to Portland cement concrete to increase its density. Prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) technique was utilized to analyze the concentration of chlorine in concrete. The chlorine concentration in the FA cement concrete was evaluated by determining the yield of 1.16, 1.95, 6.11, 6.62, 7.41, 7.79, and 8.58 MeV gamma-rays of chlorine from the FA concrete specimen containing 0.4–3.5 wt% chlorine. An excellent agreement was noted between the experimental yield of the prompt gamma-rays and the calculated yield obtained through the Monte Carlo simulations. The Minimum Detectable Concentration (MDC) of chlorine in FA cement concrete was also calculated. The best value of MDC limit of chlorine in the FA cement concrete was found to be 0.022±0.007 and 0.038±0.017 wt% for 1.16 and 6.11 MeV prompt gamma-rays, respectively. Within the statistical uncertainty, the lower bound of MDC meets the maximum permissible limit of 0.03 wt% of chlorine in concrete set by American Concrete Institute Committee 318.