The prediction of corrosion rates of reinforcing steels in concrete

The effect of chloride and acetate ions on corrosion of steel in concrete was studied. The reinforcement corrosion was evaluated by measuring the corrosion potentials and corrosion current density using linear polarization resistance technique. The initial corrosion rates (i(o)) of reinforcing steel in concrete containing either chloride or acetate ion were found to be higher as compared to concrete without admixture. The corrosion rate is very high at early days and decreases by time. The corrosion rate vs time curves for reinforcements in all three types of concrete blocks follow the same pattern. The following exponential quantitative relation between the corrosion rate (i(cor)) and time (Theta) was proposed: i(cor) = i(o) exp(-C Theta) where C was termed as concrete corrosion constant having a value of 1.1 x 10(-3) day(-1) for the types of concrete samples under consideration. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd