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Geotec., Const. Mat. and Env., ISSN:2186-2990, Japan, DOI: https://doi.org/10.21660/2017.39.65526
Emel Ken Benito1, Marish S. Madlangbayan2*, Nimfa Maren S. Tabucal2, Marloe B. Sundo2, and Perlie P.
Velasco2
1
Corporate Development Engineer, Cumberland Development Corporation, Philippines; 2Faculty, University
of the Philippines, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines
*Corresponding Author, Received: 16 July 2017, Revised: 14 August 2017, Accepted: 25 August 2017
ABSTRACT: This study investigated the effect of sea water on the corrosion behavior of reinforcing steel in
concrete. A 3% sodium chloride solution was used to simulate sea water. The solution was used as mixing
water as well as immersion media. Combinations of mixing and immersion media considered in this study were
normal-normal water (NN), normal-sea water (NS), seawater-normal water (SN), and seawater-seawater (SS).
Corrosion measurement used were Impressed Voltage Test (IVT) and gravimetric method. Results showed that
corrosion current curves, gravimetric mass loss, the average and maximum current passed are severe in SS but
negligible in NN. The difference between NS and SN, however, is not well defined but was shown to differ in
terms of corrosion current behavior before and after cracking. Incorporating chloride in the mix, regardless of
its environment, was found to cause rapid crack development in concrete. Statistical analysis suggested that
the presence of chloride had no influence on the outcome of percent mass loss with respect to the control
sample except in SS combination.
Keywords: Reinforced concrete, Corrosion damage, Impressed voltage test, Chloride penetration
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International Journal of GEOMATE, Nov., 2017, Vol.13, Issue 39, pp.198-205
ASTM C 150 Type I Portland Cement was used 2.3 Specimen Preparation and Testing
as the binding material. This particular type of
cement is commonly used for general building Prior to casting, workability of specimens was
construction due to relatively high tricalcium tested using slump test under ASTM C 143
aluminate (C3A) content, necessary for early standard. The test samples were then allowed to set
strength development. under room temperature for 24 hours, and moist-
cured for an additional 28 days in a water bath as
2.1.2 Aggregates per ASTM C 192. Impressed voltage technique was
carried at the end of 28-day curing period.
Fine aggregates were derived from crushed
rocks (Sand S1). Standard laboratory experiment
yielded a specific gravity of 2.50 and an average
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International Journal of GEOMATE, Nov., 2017, Vol.13, Issue 39, pp.198-205
2.3.1 NaCl solution said location. A 10-ohm resistor was also soldered
somewhere in the protruded part of each rebar to act
Chloride-contaminated water was prepared by as the primary load of the circuit.
mixing sea salt and purified water at 3% The current flowing through the bars was
concentration by weight of solution. recorded using an external ammeter (data-logger)
connected across the resistor (see Fig. 2) that can
2.3.2 Reinforced concrete specimen measure one current reading per second. Actual and
schematic layout of the electrolytic cell setup is
Each rebar sample was weighed prior to casting shown in Fig. 3.
using an analytical balance with precision of 0.01 g.
A 4 in. x 8 in. (100 mm x 200 mm) cylindrical molds
(in conformance to ASTM C 470) were used to cast
the RC specimens. Bar samples have 2 in. (50 mm)
protruded part resting at the same clear distance
from the bottom, as shown in Fig. 1.
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International Journal of GEOMATE, Nov., 2017, Vol.13, Issue 39, pp.198-205
number of electrons transferred per iron atom (𝒛𝒛 = Table 2. Measurements obtained to compute for
𝟐𝟐 for 𝑭𝑭𝑭𝑭 → 𝑭𝑭𝑭𝑭𝟐𝟐+ + 𝟐𝟐𝒆𝒆− ), and F is the Faraday’s average corroding area.
constant parameter (F = 96,487 C/mol).
The total amount of electric charge Q resulting Parameter VALUE
from electric current was calculated by getting the Gross weight (g) 172.63
area under the curve of current-time relationship. Displaced Volume (cm³) 22.00
Thus, the percentage of corrosion damage is given Density (g/cm³) 7.85
in Eq. (2), Length (cm) 20.00
Cross-sectional area (cm²) 1.10
𝒎𝒎 Average diameter (cm) 1.18
𝐂𝐂𝒕𝒕 = 𝒙𝒙𝒙𝒙𝒙𝒙𝒙𝒙 (2)
𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒊 Corroding area (cm²) 55.47
where mi is the mass of original metal. The mean 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
corrosion rate (mm/year), can be obtained as shown
in Eq. (3) by rearranging the mass loss equation, 3.1 Current-time relationship
𝒊𝒊𝒘𝒘𝒂𝒂
𝒓𝒓 = (3) Current values for all RC specimens generally
𝒏𝒏𝒏𝒏𝒏𝒏
level off at initial stage of test and may be attributed
to the resistance provided by the concrete.
where r is the corrosion rate, i is the corrosion It was argued that the decrease is due to the
current density which is the ratio of average current temporary protection given by the passive oxide
to the original area corroding; and wa, n, ρ, and F as film formed at earlier stage of current application
defined earlier. [9]. Past studies also mentioned that passivation
Average current passed unto the bars was may take effect even while concrete undergoes
obtained by dividing the amount of charge liberated moist-curing [10].
in Eq. (1) by the total time duration T of test as Presently available chloride caused the FeOOH
indicated in Eq. (4), or FeO-layers in the passive film to break down into
𝑸𝑸
more porous and weaker iron-oxide (Fe2O3) [11],
𝑰𝑰𝒂𝒂𝒂𝒂 = (4) and thus protection lasts much faster than normal.
𝑻𝑻
Figure 4 shows comparison of the current values
2.4.2 Gravimetric method (mA) through time for all RC specimens per
treatment combination.
After IVT, masses of corroded bars were
weighed on an analytical balance. Mass loss is the
difference in weight before and after IVT.
Corrosion rate can be estimated using Eq. (5),
∆𝒎𝒎
𝒓𝒓 = 𝟖𝟖. 𝟕𝟕𝟕𝟕 ∗ 𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟒𝟒 (5)
𝝆𝝆𝝆𝝆𝝆𝝆
polarized steel, creating an alkaline environment. surface area; thus, lowering the rate of corrosion.
Hence, it is likely that these ions reinforced the The trend is also a confirmation of the corrosion
structure of oxide passive film, which therefore current behaviour recorded in control specimen
suppressed the anodic reaction, i.e. Fe → Fe2+ + 2e-. (NN), both of which were immersed in chloride free
This means that hydroxyls may have interacted with water. This shows that RC structure in chloride-free
rebar surface eventually reducing the number of water develops a resistive property, and has a
metal atoms that will undergo hydrolysis. tendency to slow down corrosion damage
Consequently, no cracking was observed even after
15 days of accelerated test. 3.1.4 Seawater-seawater combination
corrosion rate measures the propagation of mass facilitated by cracks that formed.
loss in steel under damage. The corrosion rate or the
reaction rate of corroded reinforcement by
gravimetric method is shown in Table 3. It is a
matter of interest that while the control steel did not
exhibit electrochemical weight loss as expected,
both corrosion rate and applied current showed
apparent and consistent trends.
Treatment r (mm/yr)
NN 0.233
SN 0.323
NS 0.697
SS 2.792
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