Freeze-Thaw Durability of Concrete With and Without Silica Fume in ASTM C 666 (Procedure A) Test Method: Internal Cracking Versus Scaling

The freeze-thaw durability of concrete with and without silica fume was investigated in accordance with the requirements of ASTM Test Method for Resistance of Concrete to Rapid Freezing and Thawing (C 666 Procedure A). The water-cement ratio of all mixes was 0.5, and the silica-cement ratio of the silica fume mixes 0.1. The test results show that the critical value of the air-void spacing factor in these ASTM C 666 tests is significantly lower for the silica fume concretes. These concretes are therefore more susceptible to internal cracking caused by rapid freeze-thaw cycles in water, even though the use of silica fume decreased the surface scaling of the test specimens. This confirms that scaling and internal cracking are two different forms of frost damage caused by rapid freeze-thaw cycles in water. The use of silica fume also decreased the internal cracking of the nonair-entrained mixes damaged during the tests.