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Corrosion Behavior of Reinforcing Steel Embedded in Fly Ash Concrete

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DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4447479

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Proceedings of MARTEC 2022
The International Conference on Marine Technology
21-22 December 2022, BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh

CORROSION BEHAVIOR OF REINFORCING STEEL EMBEDDED IN FLY ASH

CONCRETE
Kazi Naimul Hoque1 and Francisco Presuel-Moreno2
1 2
Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, Florida
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Atlantic University (FAU), Dania Beach, Florida, USA
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Concrete specimens measuring 12 in by 5 in by 3 in were prepared with binary concrete mixtures, in which fly ash
was replaced for 20% of the ordinary Portland cement. A water to cementitious ratio of 0.41 was used. The specimens
had 0.3 in concrete cover and were reinforced with single rebar. For ponding, different size of solution reservoirs
were used, ranging from 2.5 cm to 17.5 cm. NaCl solution (10% by weight) was poured into the solution reservoirs.
Accelerated chloride transport technique was employed, and this was continued for a week to a few months depending
on the values of the off-rebar potential observed for each embedded specimen. The effect of rebar length under the
reservoir for fly ash containing binary blended concrete mixes was examined. In this study, two different types of
electrochemical measurements named as EIS and LPR were performed to monitor the values of rebar potential and
corrosion current. The corrosion propagation was observed for at least 400 days. Sometimes, corrosion initiated
several weeks after the removal of accelerated chloride transport approach. According to the experimental findings,
it was observed that the corrosion current value increases with the length of the solution reservoir, except for a rebar
embedded in specimens with a solution reservoir of 7.5 cm.

Keywords: Corrosion propagation, Reservoir length, Fly ash, Accelerated chloride transport, Corrosion current, Rebar
potential.

1. INTRODUCTION

Because of the highly alkaline environment of the reduced and the effective diffusivity of either chloride or
surrounding concrete (pH-13), steel rebar embedded in other species is decreased. It is hypothesized that these
concrete are protected against corrosion by a thin oxide actions cause the concrete resistivity to increase.
layer that is produced and maintained on their surfaces.
Despite the advantages of reinforced concrete, its most Accelerated corrosion tests for reinforced concrete
frequent durability issue continues to be corrosion of the structures (RC) are now commonly used to model steel
steel rebar. The ingress of chloride ions to the steel corrosion and predict corrosion-related damage, such as
surface is the main factor in the initiation of corrosion in loss of steel-concrete interface bond, cover cracking,
steel rebars [1-3]. Marine structures constructed with spalling, and loss of member stiffness. It is now
reinforced concrete suffer two types of damage from steel necessary to carry out research and develop techniques
rebar corrosion. The cross-sectional area of the steel that can reduce the initiation phase while closely
rebar is reduced first. Additionally, it develops corrosion simulating natural corrosion propagation, resulting in the
products that are larger in volume than the steel itself. least amount of corrosion-induced damage. The
The volume increase induces the tensile stress in corrosion propagation phase in the service life of RC
concrete, which results in cracking and eventual structures must be assessed and considered in this regard.
structural failure [4-6]. In this study, fly ash was replaced for 20% of the
ordinary Portland cement when preparing the concrete
In recent years, it has been common to use fly ash as mix. The size of the solution reservoir was used to modify
a replacement of cement. Additionally, the fly ash the anode's length. The transport of the chloride into the
particles' reaction with calcium hydroxide results in concrete was expedited by accelerated chloride transport
hydration products that significantly reduce the porosity technique. Results from earlier studies were used to
of concrete [7]. When hydrated, fly ash which is develop the approach [8]. Corrosion typically starts to
employed as fine granulates, has the capacity to partially occur with the rebar after a few weeks or months. Linear
obstruct pores and voids. As a result, the pore size is

51-1

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polarization resistance and electrochemical impedance reservoir was affixed to the top surface using marine
spectroscopy measurements were used to monitor the adhesives (which served as the mold surface during
evolution of corrosion. For a corrosion propagation casting). At least 40 days after casting, the reservoir was
period of approximately 400 days, values of corrosion installed. The reservoir was filled with NaCl solution
current, rebar potential, and solution resistance were (10% by weight). Different corroding lengths were
observed. intended. Rather, the area where corrosion could initiate
was constrained by the reservoir length. The samples
2. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS were stored in high humidity for 3 to 7 days before each
reservoir was filled with solution. On the top surface of
In April 2016, reinforced concrete samples (binary mix the solution reservoir, electrodes (made of stainless-steel
with Fly Ash (FA)) were prepared. A 0.41 water to wire mesh or TiMMO mesh) with dimensions
cementitious ratio was used to prepare these concrete comparable to those embedded were positioned. About
samples. Table 1 describes the concrete mixture in detail. one cm of the concrete specimen was immersed in a
Specifications of the concrete mix are provided in saturated calcium hydroxide solution for each specimen.
appendix 2 of reference [9]. Segments of the rebar were A white plastic mesh was placed on top of each sample
sized accordingly. The rebars had wire brushes on them. (acrylic perforated). This step was conducted to minimize
Hexane was used to clean the reinforcement of any grease the amount of leaching from the concrete.
before casting. These specimens had measurements of 12
in by 5 in by 3 in. These single rebar sections had a radius
of 0.47 cm. Eleven single-rebar test specimens were
prepared with a 0.3 in concrete cover (0.75 cm). Each
rebar was drilled and tapped. This procedure aimed to
establish an electrical contact for corrosion monitoring.

All specimens had stainless steel mesh (or titanium mix

metal oxide, or "TiMMO") embedded on the top side at
the time of casting. This surface served as the bottom
surface during the experiment. Chloride transport was
accelerated using the mesh. Meshes were positioned
along the center of the rebar, varied in length from 2.5 cm
to 17.5 cm and were approximately 3 cm wide. Figure 1. Some single rebar specimens with reservoirs
installed [12]

3. ACCELERATED CHLORIDE
The specimens were produced at the State Materials TRANSPORT
Office (SMO) of the Florida Department of
Transportation. After a day, the molds were taken out and Using a power supply, a potential hold was established
brought to the fog room for curing. between the top and the bottom mesh. The chlorides in
the solution above each rebar were then forced into the
The samples were stored after casting for about a month concrete and in the direction of the embedded rebar by an
at FDOT-SMO in a high humidity environment. For the electric field. The electrode in the NaCl solution was
following stage of the experiment, these samples were wired to the power source's negative end. The embedded
transferred to the FAU SeaTech campus at the end of mesh of each specimen was connected to the power
May 2016. These samples were initially kept at FAU- supply's positive terminal. To minimize direct contact
SeaTech in a high humidity room before the solution between the titanium mix metal oxide wire mesh and the
reservoir was set up. The solution reservoir for ponding concrete surface, an acrylic mesh was introduced to the
was then fitted, and the samples were then transferred to solution reservoir. The experimental set-up for
the laboratory setting (65% RH and 21°C). A plastic

Corrosion behavior of reinforcing steel embedded in fly ash concrete 51-2

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 Proceedings of MARTEC 2022 hosted on SSRN.com

accelerated chloride transport method is shown in Figure

2.

Accelerated chloride transport technique was employed

for each specimen. A 9 V applied potential was initially
employed. When rebar potential was measured in relation
to a saturated calomel reference electrode while the
electric field was still on, a potential larger than +2V was
observed. The applied voltage was lowered to 3 V after 7
days. The delta potential across a 100-ohm resistor was
used to determine how much current was applied when a
certain voltage was provided for several days at a time.
The rebar potential was observed in respect to a saturated
calomel reference electrode when the system was turned
off. The rebars were polarized by an ionic current
produced by the applied electric field despite not being
connected. If the last rebar potential measurement 4. MEASUREMENTS PERFORMED FOR
indicated that corrosion had not initiated, the applied MONITORING CORROSION
potential was restarted after monitoring the rebar
PROPAGATION
potential for a period (typically up to two hours) with the
system being disconnected. The accelerated chloride
Using a saturated calomel reference electrode, the
transport procedure was carried out until the specimen
potential of the rebar was continuously monitored during
showed an off-rebar potential (a value of -0.150 Vsce or
the corrosion propagation stage. The samples chosen for
more negative), which may indicate the start of corrosion
modest anodic polarization were tested using the same
in that embedded rebar. The potential value at which
type of electrode that was used to find the rebar potential
corrosion begins has been reported to be -0.150 Vsce ( -
during the electromigration stage. At least two days after
0.220 V vs. CSE) [8].
the system was disconnected, the solution resistance (Rs)
and corrected polarization resistance (Rc) were
measured. The apparent polarization resistance minus the
solution resistance provides the Rc value. EIS and LPR
measurements started in June 2016. The frequency range
for the EIS test was 10 kHz to 1 Hz, and the impedance
magnitude used for the solution resistance (Rs) was
54.51 Hz. The linear polarization test ranged from 10 mV
below the open circuit potential to 1 mV above it. The
LPR test was carried out from the open circuit potential
to 8 mV below it after around six months. The scan rate
was chosen to be either 0.1 mV/s or 0.05 mV/s.

The rebar potential, EIS, and LPR measurements were

carried out during the electromigration period (but after
the system had been off for at least two days). These
Figure 2. Experimental setup used for accelerated measurements were carried out once every month after
chloride transport method the electromigration was placed on hold. Rc values
obtained from LPR/EIS readings were converted to
Table 2 shows how each sample was labeled. This table
corrosion current (Icorr) where the corroding area is
also includes the sample name/ID, reservoir length, and
unknown. The Icorr was determined using the Stern-
the start and end dates of electromigration as well as the
Geary equation i.e., Icorr = B/Rp where Rp is the
calculated Ampere-hour applied.
polarization resistance (defined previously as Rc) and B
is the Stern-Geary coefficient that ranged from 13 to 52
mV depending on the steel's corrosion condition (i.e.,
passive, or active). Most of the research [10, 11] have
determined and used values of 26 mV for corroding
(active) steel in concrete and 52 mV for passive steel.
Therefore, a value of 26 mV was chosen for this study.

Corrosion behavior of reinforcing steel embedded in fly ash concrete 51-3

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5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION rebar in FA-8. After suspending the electromigration, the
rebar potential dropped sharply and around day 270 it
In the following figure, day zero does not correspond became more negative than -0.350 Vsce. Rc values
to the age of the specimen but rather to the addition of the dropped sharply. During the accelerated chloride
solution to the installed solution reservoir. The segment transport procedure, Rs seem to increase monotonically,
of the plot to the right of the dashed line is a typical and Rc increased significantly. Starting on day 280, the
representation of corrosion propagation. The dashed lines rebar in sample FA-8 was subjected to a modest anodic
are followed (to the right of them) by an arrow mark, current to accelerate the corrosion, but it was suspended
which designates the after-migration period. If there are by day 570. The approximate length of each modest
two black dashed lines, the range represents the overall
anodic polarization is shown by the gray bars. All values
amount of time that the samples were subjected to
shown were after at least two days after turning off the
accelerated chloride transport, and the blue prisms inside
represent the approximately measured amount of time modest anodic polarization. During the subsequent
that the electric field was applied. The beginning of the corrosion monitoring period, Rc tended to oscillate, but
accelerated corrosion mechanism in some of the samples Rs increased monotonically. Although it oscillated
as it was initiated by a modestly applied current was slightly, specimen FA-8's rebar potential stayed around
depicted as a blue solid line, with gray columns the region of approximately –0.250 Vsce.
highlighting each time it occurred.
The Rs, Rc, and rebar potentials that were measured on
specimen FA-9 are depicted in the second plot in Figure
3. After the accelerated chloride transport procedure was
stopped, there was a significant potential drop in the rebar
in specimen FA-9, and the potential became –0.495 Vsce
by day 353. During the electromigration, Rs seem to
increase monotonically, but Rc increased slightly. Rc
saw a sharp decline after the electromigration and tended
to oscillate thereafter during the monitored period. The
Rs values were below 2 k during the propagation stage,
i.e., after suspending the electromigration. Starting on
day 353, the rebar potential oscillated and tended to drift
toward more positive values. Reference [9, 12, 13, 14]
contains the figures for the other FA specimens.

Table 3 shows the average Rs, Rc, and rebar potential

values obtained from LPR/EIS readings for FA single
rebar specimens. The measurements taken between
March 2017 and February 2018 were included to
calculate these averages. It was observed that the largest
Rs(average) and largest Rc(average) values were for the
rebars that are embedded in specimens having the smaller
solution reservoir of 2.5 cm. On the other hand, the
lowest Rs(average) and lowest Rc(average) values were
found for the rebars embedded in specimens with the
solution reservoir of 17.5 cm and 7.5 cm respectively. For
all the specimens, the average rebar potential values were
more negative than -0.150 Vsce. It was interesting to note
that the average rebar potential values for the rebars
under 7.5 cm reservoir length were found to be more
Figure 3. Rs, Rc, and rebar potential measured on negative than -0.325 Vsce. It is important to mention that
selected rebars under 17.5 cm reservoir the rebar potential and other readings were influenced
by the portion of the rebar not directly below the
The first plot in Figure 3 shows the Rs, Rc, and rebar reservoir as well as any rebar outside of the concrete. In
potential measured on specimen FA-8. There were some instances, the moisture level was so high that the
additional electromigration durations performed on the

Corrosion behavior of reinforcing steel embedded in fly ash concrete 51-4

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 Proceedings of MARTEC 2022 hosted on SSRN.com

rebar that was exposed to the atmosphere outside the 2017 and February 2018 were included to calculate these
concrete corroded. The Rc values and the rebar potential averages. It was observed that for a reservoir length of
were likely impacted by the latter. Figure 4 summarizes 17.5 cm, Icorr average & STD values for FA-7, FA-8,
the correlation between the average Rs (concrete solution and FA-9 samples were 27.4 μA, 37.8 μA, and 25.9 μA
resistance) and the length of the solution reservoir for FA & 10.3 μA, 25.9 μA, and 5.8 μA respectively. While
concrete mixes cast with a single rebar. It has been comparing the Icorr average measured on rebars for 7.5
observed that the maximum average Rs value was for the cm reservoir length samples, it was found that Icorr
rebar containing solution reservoir of 2.5 cm, while rebar average & STD values for FA-4, FA-5, and FA-6 were
having 17.5 cm solution reservoir had the minimum 36.9 μA, 17.4 μA, and 54.8 μA & 7.4 μA, 6.6 μA, and 9.4
average Rs value. μA respectively. It was noted that for 5 cm reservoir
length samples, the Icorr average & STD values for FA-
1, FA-2, and FA-3 were 6.0 μA, 10.1 μA, and 28.4 μA &
2.7 μA, 2.6 μA, and 12.9 μA respectively. It was noticed
that for 2.5 cm reservoir length samples, the Icorr average
& STD values for FA-10, and FA-11 were 11.1 μA, and
2.1 μA & 10.0 μA, and 0.8 μA respectively. It was
interesting to note that the rebar with the largest average
Icorr was the rebar embedded in sample FA-6, which has
a solution reservoir of 7.5 cm. The rebar with the lowest
average Icorr was for FA-11 sample, that has the smaller
solution reservoir of 2.5 cm. Icorr average values for FA
specimens were reported as 49.9 μA [15], and 17.6 μA
[16] respectively.

Figure 5 summarizes the relationship between the

average corrosion current and the length of the solution
reservoir for FA concrete mixes cast with a single rebar.
Figure 4. Variation of average Rs (concrete solution Using the LPR/EIS method, the average corrosion
resistance) with length of solution reservoir for FA current values were derived from the readings taken
concrete mixes cast with single rebar between September 2017 and February 2018.

Table 4 highlights the Icorr average and STD values

obtained from LPR/EIS readings for FA single rebar
specimens. The measurements taken between September

Corrosion behavior of reinforcing steel embedded in fly ash concrete 51-5

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[5] Hoque, K. N., “Analysis of structural discontinuities

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