Chloride Threshold Value for Corrosion of Steel in Concrete

MSc Civil Engineering (Seismic Design)

UCL Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic
Student: Reza Madanipour
Engineering, Gower St, London ,WC1E 6BT Supervised by: Dr Chanakya Arya

Introduction Results
Chloride-induced corrosion is the major cause of deterioration of reinforced concrete Provided results are preliminary and the project is still under progress.
structures exposed to marine environments or concrete roads exposed to de-icing salts.
Water to Cement Ratio
The chloride threshold value can be defined as the certain minimum concentration of
chloride at the surface of the reinforcement steel that is necessary to initiate the corrosion
process. The steel reinforcement in concrete is susceptible to corrosion when the chloride
content in the pore solutions exceeds the threshold value and initiate the corrosion Expected range for
process. In presence of oxygen and moisture the depassivated area of reinforcement steel corrosion initiation
starts to corrode. Hydrated ferric oxide, the product of corrosion, builds up and occupies
a volume of six to ten times larger than the original reinforcement steel. This leads to
cracking, spalling and delamination of reinforced concrete.

Figure 3. Graph of Potential vs Time for w/c ratio of 0.65 Figure 4. Graph of corrosion current vs time for w/c ratio of 0.65
Expected result based on available literature:

Higher w/c ratio Lower CTV

Figure 1. Cracking and spalling in reinforced concrete caused by chloride induced corrosion
Mineral Admixtures
(www.bpcomposites.com/application/gfrp-vs-steel)

Low corrosion rate

Research Objective
The objectives of this project are:
• To obtain chloride threshold values of steels in reinforced concrete composed of
I Portland cement or supplementary cementitious materials in harsh environment
• to investigate effect of w/c ratio, mineral admixtures and corrosion inhibitor on
II chloride threshold value and corrosion rate
Figure 5. Graph of Potential vs Time for GGBS50 (w/b: 0.55) Figure 6. Graph of corrosion current vs time for GGBS50 (w/b: 0.55)
Expected results for partial replacement of cement with various mineral admixtures based on available
literature:
Methodology GGBS
Experimental setups are as follow: Improved chemical Higher chloride
Higher CTV
and physical binding binding capacity
Steel electrode embedded in a cement based material ?
I. Lower chloride binding capacity
Reduction in pH of
• Steel electrode: mild and stainless steel pore solution II. Less stable passive state of the Lower CTV
• Cement based material: concrete (cube specimens 100mm x 100mm) steel

Chloride ion at steel surface PFA

• Chloride introduction: capillary suction and diffusion I. Higher I. More efficient
• Immersion solution: solution simulating harsh environment (NaCl & NaCl + Na2SO4) proportions of chemical binding Higher chloride
active alumina Higher CTV
II. Higher adsorption binding capacity
Concrete mix variables II. More gel pores of chloride

• Portland cement with W/C ratios of: 0.35, 0.45, 0.55, 0.65 ?
I. Lower chloride binding capacity
• Mineral admixtures with W/B ratio of 0.55: PFA, GGBS, Silica Fume Reduction in pH of
Lower CTV
pore solution II. Less stable passive state of the
• Corrosion Inhibitor with W/B ratio of 0.55: Calcium Nitrite, 2-Amino Ethanol steel

experiment regime Silica Fume

• Wetting and drying cycle during test period: 4 days of drying in thermal oven at 40℃ and 3
days of exposure to saline solution simulating harsh service environment Higher amount of Lower chloride binding
aluminate phase capacity
Lower CTV
Test methods Reduction in alkalinity and Less stable passive state of
• Monitoring onset of steel corrosion: pH of the pore solution the steel
• Half cell Potential
• EIS Corrosion Inhibitors
• Visual inspection
• Compressive Strength: 7, 28, 56 days
• Measurement of chloride content in concrete: drilling & acid extraction technique, Water
soluble technique Low corrosion rate

Monitoring of corrosion evolution

• Based on dramatic change of monitoring parameters
• Recommended values for monitoring parameters available in literature

Quantifying chloride threshold content

• Total Chloride Figure 7. Graph of Potential vs Time for CN (w/b: 0.55) Figure 8. Graph of corrosion current vs time for CN(w/b: 0.55)
• Free Chloride
Expected results for samples with corrosion inhibitors based on available literature:
Modification of the surface chemistry of steel to mitigate or prevent
the corrosion process Higher CTV

Conclusion
(I) CTV for reinforced concrete structures under harsh environment is to be obtained
in this research providing input parameters for service life prediction work. Due to
variety of the experimental conditions and test set-ups, and also different definition of
the critical chloride content, results stated in the literature scatter over a large range.
(II) with ingress of chloride steel potential changes gradually and corrosion rate
varies indicating certain corrosion at steel surface. Due to time limit, further monitoring
Figure 2. Test setup for half cell potential and EIS tests and experiment need to be carried on.

Reference
U. Angst, B. Elsener, C.K. Larsen, O. Vennesland, Critical chloride content in reinforced concrete – A review, Cement
and Concrete Research 39(2009) 1122-1138.
K.Y. Ann, H. Song, Chloride threshold level for corrosion of steel in concrete, Corrosion Science 49(2007) 4113-4133