Coating and Insulation Engineer at SAPREF Here is everything you want to know about calculations for the salt

tests. Background: All test methods that quantify the soluble salts on steel surfaces have two steps. They all have to extract the salts with a liquid such as distilled water. The second step is to analyze the extract for the amount or chloride or salts in that extract. Some tests analyze for chlorides only, such as the Chlor-Test or the Quantab analysis strips. Other tests analyze for all salts, which use the conductivity method. Now to answer your questions The conversion of ppm level for the contractor depends on what test you using. If he uses the Chlor-Test then ppm levels are the same as micrograms/square cm. So 5 ppm would be 5 ug/sq cm. If he uses another test, then you need to know the area that he extracted and the volume of liquid in the extract. Then you can determine the ug/sq cm. If he uses the Chlor-Test, just remember that he is measuring only chloride salts on the steel. PPM is the same as mg/liter To calculate ug chlorides per square cm using the ppm result, the formula is: ppm (mg/1000 ml) x 1000 ug/mg x extract volume (ml) / Area extracted (sq cm) = ug chloride/sq cm To convert ug/sq cm to mg/m2, multiply the ug/sq cm by 10. You are using a conductivity test method (because you say your measurements are in micro-Siemens) and this may not give the same salt levels as the Chlor-Test which quantifies chlorides only, and your conductivity test is quantifying all soluble salts on the steel surface. But both methods give us a close approximation of the salts on the steel. You can convert the conductivity readings to "equivalent chlorides". But keep in mind that the conductivity readings are really based on a mixture of salts extracted off the steel surface. The formula that I use is: (Ce Cc) X (0.275 ug chloride/ml per microS) X Ve / area in sq cm = micrograms chloride equivalent / square cm 0.275 is the Conductivity Conversion Factor (CCF) which converts conductivity to ug of equivalent chloride Ce = Conductivity of the extract, Cc = conductivity of the solution before extraction, microS = microSiemen, Ve = volume of the extract With my calculations using 0.275 for conversion, the 9.125 uS/cm = 2.48 ppm of equivalent chloride. The corrosion institute uses a different CCF of 0.44 because they want to convert the conductivity measurements to equivalent Sodium Chloride (NaCl) in the weights to give 4 ppm of NaCl salt. Sodium Chloride is the most common salt and chlorides don't exist by themselves, they are always associated with a cation like sodium. To answer your question about whether 4 ppm = 10 mg/sq cm, the answer is: we do not know, because; in order to convert ppm to mg/sq cm you need to know the extract volume and area extracted or tell us what method is used. Now it is even more complicated: If you go by the ISO Standard 8502-9 titled Field Method for the Conductometric Determination of Water-Soluble Salts, they use a CCF of 0.5 because salts on steel almost always includes a mixture of salts not just NaCl salt. They have measured the salts under typical rust and base their CCF on this salt mixture and 0.5 converts to the weight of all the salts in the extract.

So everyone needs to be clear in their conductivity test methods and reports that it is either equivalent chloride or equivalent sodium chloride or salt mixture. Otherwise we are all confused. My limits for chloride are not based on new or old steel but on the exposure type. For atmospheric exposures at ambient temps, the limit is 50 mg/sq m (5 ug/sq cm) and for immersion or elevated temps the limit is 25 mg/sq m (2.5 ug/sq cm). Hope this helps NACE International Certified Coating Inspector Level III - # 2737 Renjith, On this subject often there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding If the data sheet of your instrument stated that the Net ( the last value of conductivity minus the values of distilled water takes before test) read on conductimeter will be multiply for 6 is because probably the manufacturer suggest to utilize a total amount of distilled water of 15 ml for soluble salt extraction using the A1250 Bresle patch type (See ISO 8502-6). To convert s/cm in mg/l you have to multiply the conductivity reading by a K factor The K factor is related to soluble salt type (see a common soluble salt factors below listed) If you use a certain volume of distilled water expressed in ml (milliliters) in your case 15ml and wash for extraction a known area for example 12.5 cm (this figure is the surface of Bresle Patch) the results figure that you will have will be expressed in ml/cm , with a proper conversion you can obtain at the end the final value expressed in mg/m: Practically: A = Bresle Patch surface = 12,5 cm (12500 mm); B = Total Volume of Distilled water used for salt extraction: 15 ml; C = Final Value read on conductimeter : 3 S/cm; K= Salts Factor (see the values listed below) X (mg/l) = C * K; X= 3 * 0.5 (is an average K value) = 1.5 mg/l D (mg) = [ X (mg/l) * B (ml) ] / 1000 (ml); 1.5 * 15 / 1000 = 0.0225 mg E (mg/cm) = D(mg) / A (cm); 0.0225 / 12.5 = 0.0018 (mg/cm) F(mg/m) = E (mg/cm) * 10000; 0.0018 * 10000 = 18(mg/m). for more info see ISO 8502-9 and: Conductometric determination of salt on steel surfaces, MP (Material Performance), June 1995, Vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 35 37, NACE Internationa, Houston TX, USA. Common soluble salt's Factor Sodium Chloride 0.46 Calcium Chloride 0.41 Ferrous Chloride 0.42 Sodium Sulfate 0.57 Calcium Sulfate 0.51 Ferrous Sulfate 0.59

Sodium Bicarbonate 0.9 Calcium Bicarbonate 0.84 Ferrous Bicarbonate 0.91 Regards Giuseppe NACE Level III, # 2737