PERSPECTIVE

A Critique of the
ACI 318 Chloride Limits
D. W. Pfeifer, P.E.
Vice President
Allowable chloride limits for new concrete, as
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. outlined by the American Concrete Institute's
Northbrook, Illinois Committee 318 in its Building Code, have
been established since 1983. However, they
do not appear to be consistent with current
corrosion technology. This paper traces the
changes in the requirements for chloride ion
and suggests new limits based on the results
of recent studies. Research is urgently
needed to correlate the initiation of corrosion
with "effective or threshold chloride," as
measured by procedures that discount
W. F. Perenchio, P.E. chloride tied up in aggregate and possibly in
Senior Consultant
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
the cement paste. Studies must be made to
Northbrook, Illinois determine why the threshold chloride level is
apparently so different for deformed rein-
forcing bar and 7-wire prestressing strand.

ntil 1983, the ACI 318 Building Code ' contained no

U recommendations for limiting chloride ion contents

W. G. Hime, P.E.
Principal
Erlin , Hime Associates Division
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
Northbrook, Illinois
in new concrete, except for prohibiting chloride in
prestressed concrete in the 1963 version. However, the 1971
and 1977 codes warned against the effects of chloride in
both prestressed concrete and concrete with aluminum em-
bedments.
The 1983 Code contained specific requirements for maxi-
mum water-soluble chloride ion percentages in new con-
crete but did not specify the test method to be used. In 1986
this section was expanded slightly to include a recommended
test method. In 1989 a different water-soluble test method
was specified. To date, there is not an ASTM water-soluble
chloride ion test method.
Despite these revisions and refinements , in the opinion of
the authors, the Code does not reflect recent advances in
technology related to corrosion of steel in concrete. Most

68 PCI JOURNAL
Table 1. Current chloride ion content for corrosion protection.
Maxim um water-soluble
chloride ion (CI") in concrete,
Type of member percent by weight of cement
Prestressed concrete
Reinforced concrete exposed
to chloride in service
Reinforced concrete that will be
dry or protected from moisture
in service
Other reinforced concrete
construction
obvious is the fact that the Code
allows chloride ion levels in new con-
crete that are well above the threshold
for supporting electrochemical corro-
sion when moisture and oxygen are
available.
CONCLUSIONS
The ACI 318-89 limits for water-
soluble chloride contents, given in
Section 4.3 of ACI 318-89, are non-
conservative in all categories but per-
haps one, that for prestressed concrete.
The limits applying to normally rein-
forced concrete are concerned with
concrete that will be subjected to vari-
ous environmental conditions.
The limit for concrete that will be
"ex posed to chloride in service" is
already at or somewhat above the
corrosion threshold. (The threshold
is defined as the lowest level of chlo-
ride that will initiate electrochemical
COITOSion.)
The limit for concrete that "will be
dry or protected from moisture in ser-
vice" allows more than seven times
the threshold amount. The limit for
"other reinforced concrete construc-
tion," which presumably means that
which will neither be "exposed to
chloride in service" nor kept "dry or
protected from moisture in service,"
allows about twice the threshold level.
This limit almost ensures that elec-
trochemical corrosion of reinforcing
steel, or other embedded metals, will
occur if sufficient moisture and oxy-
gen are available. The threshold for
prestressing strand has recently been
found by the authors to depend on
chemicals that may be present on
them. Accordingly, the limit for strand
may be far too conservative under
some conditions.
March-April 1992
Table 2. Proposed chloride ion content for corrosion protection.
Type of member
0.06 Prestre sed concrete or
reinforced concrete exposed
0.15 to moisture or chloride in
service
1.00 Reinforced concrete that
will be dry or protected
0.30 from moisture in service
RECOMMENDATIONS
The present limits for ch loride ion
content of new concrete at ages from
28 to 42 days , according to Table 4.3.1
in the 1989 ACI 318, are as listed in
Table 1.
Based on recent work, as reported in
Refs. 2 to 4, only the limit for pre-
stressed concrete appears conserva-
tive. The referenced studies contain a
great deal of information concerning
the threshold value of chloride for
supporting cotTosion. This infom1ation
suggests to the authors that conserva-
tive, yet nonrestrictive, limits for chlo-
ride would be as listed in Table 2.
These values are reasonable, based
on current technology, but do not un-
du ly restrict the acid-so lub le chloride
ion concentration in new concrete .
Corrosion specialists and specifying
agencies have not yet agreed on a
proper method to determine water-
so luble ch loride. The resu lts from
different methods now in use are
strongly influenced by the particle size
of the test sample, the temperature of
the leach water , and the length of
leaching. 3•5
DISCUSSION
In a recent paper,' Hope and Ip pre-
sented data on the effects of various
levels of admixed calcium ch loride
(from 0.2 to 2.0 percent calcium chlo-
ride dihydrate by weight of cement)
on corrosion of deformed steel bars
embedded in concrete. Their results
show that the apparent admixed calci-
um chloride dihydrate corrosion
thresho ld was between 0.2 and 0.4
percent by weight of cement. Their
particular method of determining
water-sol uble ch loride contents 3 re-
sulted in the detection of about 35 to
Maximum acid-soluble
ch lori de ion {Cl") in concrete,
percent by weight of cement
0.10
0.20
75 percent of the admixed chloride
ion, with an average detection of about
50 percent of the admixed ch loride ion.
Based on the results of this water-
soluble test, the actual corrosion
threshold was between 0.014 and
0.022 percent chloride ion by weight
of concrete, which translates to 0.08 to
0.13 percent chloride ion by weight of
cement for their concrete mixture.
These values , in water-soluble
terms, compare closely to those for
externally-applied sodium chloride,
and the corresponding acid-so lu ble
value for the threshold as reported by
Pfeifer et al. 4 the same year. T heir
value was 0.20 percent, which, using
the same 50 percent reduction for
water-soluble, becomes 0.10 percent
by weight of cement. Therefore, it
appears that, regardless of the origin
of the free chloride ions, a similar
amount is required to initiate corro-
sion, and this amount is small .
The ACI 318-89 Code, however,
contains limits that are not small. For
instance , the limit of 1.0 percent
water-soluble chloride, if it were to
have been introduced as an admixture,
wou ld allow the addition of more than
4 percent calcium chloride dihydrate
as an admixture when assuming the 50
percent "recovery" level for water-
soluble chloride. In this connection,
we have found corrosion in several
structures where the exposure was dry,
but the concrete had never dried out
because of thickness or covering with
ti le, or other causes.
Extending this reasoning to the
other ACI 318 categories, for concrete
to be " exposed to chlorides in ser-
vice," 0.62 percent dihydrate could be
used; for "other reinforced concrete
construction," 1.25 percent could be
added. Clearly, these levels of chloride
69
can support corrosion and should be
rectified as soon as possible.
Recent studies on corrosion of 7-
wire prestressing strand have resulted
in the conclusion that both the time-to-
corrosion and the chloride ion corro-
sion threshold for the strand studied
are substantially greater than that for
deformed reinforcing bar. Ref. 4 dis-
cusses these observations. One conclu-
sion arrived at in Ref. 4, concerning
concrete exposed to 48 weekly cycles
of ponding with chloride solutions fol-
lowed by air drying, is that:
"Corrosion activity of unstressed
gray prestressing strand with l in.
(25.4 mm) cover in moist-cured con-
crete began when the chloride content
(acid-soluble) at the strand level
reached an average of almost 1.2 per-
cent by weight of portland cement.
This is six times greater than that de-
termined for gray bars. In addition, the
average time-to-corrosion for these
unstressed prestressing strands was
three times as long as that measured
for gray bars."
These data show that the unstressed
7-wire strand was able to tolerate six
times the amount of acid-soluble chlo-
ride that caused corrosion of regular
deformed reinforcing steel, about 0.20
percent chloride ion by weight of
cement.
Similar test results on unstressed
prestressing strand and reinforcing bar
have been reported ' to the ACI Task
Group Revising ACI 222-85. This
long-term corrosion study of un-
stressed reinforcing bar and prestress-
ing strand started in 1984. The speci-
mens were made with structural
lightweight concrete and were similar
in configuration to those used in the
study reported in Ref. 4.
The test cycle was the 48 week
southern exposure method used in the
studies reported by Pfeifer et al. 4 Dur-
ing the testing, it was determined that
the control specimens (reinforcing bar
and strand) first developed corrosion
activity as follows:
Average
Steel type time-to-corrosion
Reinforcing bar 7.5 weeks
7-wire strand >42 weeks
'Kenneth C. Clear, Inc., March 12, 1991.
70
This time-to-corrosion period for
reinforcing bar is similar to the 6 to 6 ~
weeks for reinforcing bar reported in
Ref. 4. The 42 weeks (or greater) for
prestressing strand is longer than the
average 19 to 19 ~ weeks reported for
strand in Ref. 4. However, these two
studies show that prestressing strand
can tolerate from 3 to 5 times the
amount of exposure prior to the initia-
tion of corrosion, compared to de-
formed reinforcing bar.
After 48 weeks of testing in the
laboratory, the slabs were subjected to
natural weathering in northern
Virginia on above-ground racks. Slabs
were observed for signs of cracking
from installation, in August 1985,
to March 1990. Time-to-cracking was
as follows:
Average
Steel type time-to-cracking
Reinforcing bar 1 to 3.5 years
7-wire strand 4.4 to 5.6 years
A 1984 paper6 presented similar
conclusions. This two-year study was
done on beams containing fully-
stressed 7 -wire strand that had been
cleaned with xylene. Most beams were
steam-cured. Admixed calcium chlo-
ride dihydrate, up to 2 percent (about
I percent chloride ion) by weight of
cement, was added to the concrete for
some beams. Others made with chlo-
ride-free concrete were ponded for
about one year with 4 percent NaCl
solution, followed by about one year
of cyclic ponding with 8 percent NaCl
solution and air drying. The following
conclusions can be drawn from this
study:
• Under prolonged uniformly moist or
dry conditions, active corrosion
could not be sustained, even in the
presence of water-soluble chloride
contents as high as 0.9 to 1.0 per-
cent by weight of cement.
• In beams made without admixed
calcium chloride, ponding with 4 or
8 percent NaCl solution failed to in-
duce corrosion, even though up to
0.36 percent water-soluble chloride
ion was found at the level of the
upper tendons at the two-year age.
• Concrete made with 0.11 percent
water-soluble admixed chloride ion
by weight of cement and stored
damp did not initiate corrosion.
• Concrete made with chloride-soaked
aggregate, which produced 0.17 per-
cent water-soluble chloride ion by
weight of cement, and stored damp,
initiated corrosion , but the slight
corrosion activity terminated at
about 15 weeks of testing.
This study showed that the 0.06 per-
cent water-soluble chloride ion con-
tent by weight of cement shown in
ACI 318 is not a corrosion threshold
level. In fact, this research could not
identify reproducible chloride ion
threshold levels for the various condi-
tions evaluated. However, the authors
suggest that the permissible water-
soluble chloride content should not ex-
ceed 0.10 percent by weight of cement
for prestressed concrete.
Data were submitted to the ACI 222
task group from another long-term
corrosion study ,t on fully stressed and
unstressed 7-wire strand embedded in
concrete made with and without calci-
um chloride as an admixture. This
study began in mid-1984.
Normal weight and lightweight con-
cretes were evaluated with stress-
relieved and low-relaxation, ~ in. (13
mm) diameter 7-wire strand. The con-
cretes were made to Pennsylvania
DOT specifications, except for the ad-
dition of 2.5 percent calcium chloride
dihydrate (about 1.2 percent chloride
ion) by weight of cement. Cement
content for the normal weight concrete
was 658 lbs per cu yd (390 kg/m 3),
with a water-cement ratio of 0.40. The
concretes were steam-cured, develop-
ing compressive strengths at 18 to 21
hours of about 4000 to 4600 psi (28 to
32 MPa). The 34 beams produced
were cast in June and July of 1984 and
transported to the outdoor test facility
in October.
Based upon commonly observed de-
tection of about 50 to 75 percent of the
admixed chloride by water-soluble test
methods, the water-soluble chloride
ion content of the chloride-containing
concrete is in the range of 0.6 to 0.9
percent by weight of cement, values
that are 10 to 15 percent times the ACI
318 limit of 0.06 percent.
These beams have been monitored
with copper-copper sulfate (CSE)
half-cell readings, three-point linear
polarization measurements and visual
inspection for nearly six years. The re-
PC! JOURNAL
suits of these tests at the end of this
time are summarized below:
1. Significant corrosion has not oc-
curred on any strand. There are no sig-
nificant differences in half-cell poten-
tials between chloride-bearing and
chloride-free concrete beams, and 93
percent of all half-cell potentials are
less than -200 mV CSE.
2. No difference in corrosion activ-
ity exists between stressed and un-
stressed strand. The average half-
cell potentials are less than -200 mV
CSE on beams with chloride-bearing
and chloride-free concrete.
3. The half-cell potentials indicate a
substantial decrease in the half-cell
potentials from age 2.2 to 5.7 years.
The 22 fully-stressed beams with cal-
cium chloride had average potentials
of -161 mV at age 2.2 years. The four
unstressed beams with calcium chlo-
ride had average potentials of -129
m V at the same age. These potentials
decreased to -73 m V and -45 m V,
respectively, at 5.7 years.
4. No visual evidence of corrosion
has been observed.
5. The linear polarization data pro-
duced the following conclusions:
a. The prestressing steel had low
corrosion rates.
b. No corrosion damage should be ex-
pected in chloride-free concrete.
The Ref. 4 study determined that
commercial strand wires are coated
with zinc phosphate, calcium stearate,
and other lubricants during the draw-
ing process. These materials are diffi-
cult to remove and apparently impart
an unintentional "serendipitous" cor-
l. ACI Committee 318, "Building Code
Requirements for Reinforced Concrete,"
1963, 1971, 1977, 1983 [1983 revised in
1986] and 1989, American Concrete In-
stitute, Detroit, MI.
2. Hope, B. B., and Ip, A. K. C., "Chloride
Corrosion Threshold in Concrete," Ma-
terials Journal, American Concrete In-
stitute, V. 84, No. 4, July-August 1987,
pp. 306-314.
March-April 1992
rosion protection layer on the strand.
In an attempt to evaluate the degree of
protection, specimens were added to
this study which co.ntained strand sub-
jected to ultrasonic cleaning by the
supplier. This was not found to change
the performance of the strand signifi-
cantly. We suspect that cleaning with
xylene, as done in the 1984 study,"
was also unsuccessful in removing
these materials.
Another problem has been caused
by the chloride limits imposed by ACI
318. In many interior areas of the
United States and Canada, the naturally
occurring aggregates contain chlorides
that are released in acid-soluble tests,
and may be released in some water-
soluble tests, but do not become avail-
able to support corrosion in concrete.
The Hope and lp paper 2 and work
done in the authors' laboratories5 have
shown that such chlorides borne in
certain aggregates can release two to
three times the limits prescribed by
ACI 318 in water-soluble (and acid-
soluble) determinations, yet will not
cause corrosion in standard laboratory
tests because they have not been pul-
verized. Indeed, these aggregates have
been used successfully for many
decades without problems, yet they
would now be rejected for use in new
construction by the ACI 318 Code
requirements.
The authors' proposed chloride ion
content limits for out-of-door rein-
forced and prestressed concretes are
similar to those contained in the 1977
ACI Committee 201 (Durability) re-
port, Guide to Durable Concrete.
REFERENCES
3. Hope, Brian B., Page , John A., and
Poland, John S., "The Determination
of the Chloride Content of Concrete,"
Cement and Concrete Research, V. 15,
No. 5, September 1985, pp. 863-870.
4. Pfeifer, D. W., Landgren, J. R., and
Zoob, A. B., " Protective Systems for
New Prestressed and Substructure Con-
crete," Final Report No. FHW A/RD-
86/193, Federal Highway Administration,
Those limits, 0.06, 0.10 and 0.15 per-
cent, are proposed by the authors to be
0.10, 0.10 and 0.10 percent, respec-
tively. The 1977 ACI 201 report did
allow a "no limit" for the "dry con-
crete" condition. The authors' pro-
posed limit of 0.20 percent for "dry"
concrete is, as noted previously, based
upon corrosion damage observed
inside of buildings, where the current
1.0 percent limit in the ACI 318 Code
or possibly the "no limit" suggested in
1977 by ACI Committee 201, and
agreed to by ACI Committee 222
(Corrosion), was utilized by contrac-
tors and engineers.
Clearly, the problems that have
developed because of the ACI limits
for chloride (whether too low or too
high) indicate a need for revision.
Eventually chloride limits should be
based on laboratory evaluations of
corrosion thresholds by established
methods, combined with a water-solu-
ble test method that will produce
results that correlate well with the
initiation of corrosion in these tests.
However, this test has not yet been
described. Therefore, the authors pro-
pose that the acid-soluble chloride
limits suggested herein be used until
the necessary definitive data have
been developed.
The authors believe that ACI 318
should revise its limits for chloride
contents of new concrete to reflect
current technology, and to include a
reasonable but not restrictive factor of
safety within them. The authors
welcome and encourage discussion of
this paper.
Washington, D.C., April 1987, 126 pp.
5. Pfeifer, D. W., and Scali, M. J., "Con-
crete Sealers for Protection of Bridge
Structures," NCHRP Report No. 244,
Transportation Research Board, Wash-
ington, D.C., December 1981, 138 pp.
6. Stark, David, "Determination of Permis-
sible Chloride Levels in Prestressed
Concrete," PCI JOURNAL, V.29, No.
4, July-August 1984, pp. 106-119.
71