The air void system in concrete provides a strong influence on the behavior of cementitious materials in both the fresh and hardened state, especially as it relates to freeze-thaw resistance and deicer scaling. The most common test procedure to characterize the air void system is ASTM C457 – Standard Test method for Microscopical Determination of Parameters of the Air-Void System in Hardened Concrete, which involves microscopic determination of the air content, paste content, air-void size distribution, and spatial dispersion of a sawn concrete sample. This procedure is reliant on the user to make hundreds of critical decisions per sample, which requires significant time, and is potentially subject to human error. Additionally, ASTM C457 provides minimal guidance regarding the exact steps and equipment necessary to prepare a sample for evaluation. The outcome of this research not only provides specific information regarding sample preparation for hardened concrete air void analysis, it also develops an alternative characterization technique that drastically minimizes evaluation time, human error, and increases reliability of key hardened air void characterization parameters. Specific results show on average air void difference of 0.5% and 0.7% between the alternative method versus ASTM C457 Procedure A and B, respectively. The results also show a significant reduction of analysis time from approximately 2 – 4 hours per sample to 15 minutes per sample when using the alternative method.
