Fully Automatic Determination of Chloride in Hardened Concrete

Environmental influences and errors during the processing of concrete as a building material often lead to costly damage in structures such as bridges, underground parking garages, and others. These structures are also exposed to various environmental influences such as cold, heat, humidity, and condensation water. Over the years, effects associated with chloride lead to pitting corrosion of the steel used for reinforcing the concrete.

The concrete is therefore checked for chloride content as part of the inspection of the integrity of the affected structures. Drill dust samples are collected from various pre-determined points in the structure, generally from different depths, for chloride content determination.

The samples are investigated in a laboratory to determine the chloride content in accordance with the DIN EN 14629 standard or by means of potentiometric titration as described in Booklet 401 of the German Committee for Structural Concrete. The titration is easy to understand, robust in application, and rapidly provides correct results with high precision.

Metrohm offers the right analysis systems for this purpose. From a simple individual workstation all the way to a fully automated titration system – controlled by tiamo, the world's leading titration software.

The following applications are available from Metrohm:

AB-130           Chloride titrations with potentiometric indication

AN-T-006       Chloride traces in concrete and clinker bricks