CORROSION OF REINFORCEMENT IN VARIOUS CONCRETE TYPES

Abstract

 The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of concrete types on the corrosion of reinforcement in concrete. The corrosion of reinforcement was evaluated by half-cell potential (HCP), corrosion current density (i_corr) and weight loss of steel exposed to same environment. There were 5 types of concrete used: Ordinary Portland cement concrete (OPC), High-early strength Portland concrete (HPC), fly ash concrete (PFC), Portland blast-furnace slag concrete (PBSC) and silica fume concrete (PSFC). All concrete types were designed with similar water-to-binder ratio. The corrosion testing of reinforcement in concrete was conducted by wet-dry cycles of concrete specimen following the ASTM G109-99a standard. It was found from the test results that concrete types affected the corrosion of reinforcement. The corrosion of reinforcement in silica fume concrete (PSFC) was the lowest compared to the other types of concrete.