International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882

Volu me 4, Issue 12, December 2015

PERFORMANCE OF STEEL REBARIN SIMULATED CONCRETE PORE

SOLUTION WITH ADDITION OF SODIUM CHLORIDE
Anjani Kumar Singh, G.S Das
National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology, Ranchi, India

Abstract
One of the most important causes for reinforcing steel
corrosion is the presence of chloride ions that
causeslocalized breakdown of the passive film that
initially forms on steel surface as a result of the alkaline
nature of the pore solution in concrete.Theharmful
chloride ion is usually originated from the use of
contaminated mix constituents or from the surrounding
environments.Unfortunately, it is difficult to establish
such a critical value since the chloride level is influenced
by several factors. Thus, afterconcrete contamination, it
is of fundamental importance to follow the activity of
chlorides and the state of the deterioration of the
reinforcing rebars.In this respect, the use of
electrochemical technique such aspotentiodynamic
polarization measurementhas shown to be a powerful
tool.The aim of this paper is to present an overview on
thestate-of-the-art of the most important aspects of the
corrosion process initiated by addition of chloride ion in
simulated concrete pore solution(SCP), chemical
reactions and its development.Due to this, the
depassivation of passive film formation from the metal
surface has been observed. The potentiodynamic
polarization test has been carried out on both the steel
samples 1 and 2 in simulated concrete pore solution with
addition of 3.5% sodium chloride. The result showed
that steel sample 1 is corroding more in comparison to
sample 2 due to localized corrosion initiated and formed
on both the metal surface due to presence of chloride ion
on the metal/electrolyte interface. The microscopic
examination of exposed samples has been studied for
both the samples.
Key words: Simulated concrete pore solution, Chloride
ion, Rebar, Potentiodynamic polarization

1. INTRODUCTION
Reinforcement bar rolled from low alloyed steels are
basically used for construction works. These steels are
usually reinforced with concrete for construction of
buildings, bridges and roads etc. due to its better strength
and durability. These steels have also good bonding with
concrete under limited climatic conditions. Such types of
construction works face corrosive problems over the
period and get deteriorated. Many researchers showed
that the deterioration is due to the presence of chloride

ion in the solution [1-4]. The presence of these ions

plays a vital role in performance of rebar. In the present
time rebar corrosion is a very serious problem which
causes the huge economic loss in our modern society.
The deterioration of the steel is due to localized
corrosion due to presence of chloride medium in the
pores of the concrete which progress through the
chemical reactions. There is no any perfect alloys,
coatings, inhibitor etc. are fool proof and suffer from one
or other drawbacks. Reinforcement bar also called
rebar.Rebar in concrete is generally passive due to high
alkalinity of concrete and a thin passive oxide layer is
formed on the surface of the steel as the pH of the
solution increases from 12.5 to 13.5[5-7]. These layers
may be passive in nature that protects the metal from
further deterioration. However, in presence of chloride
ions these passive layer may get damages and a naked
surface may appear from where the reaction may
become very serious even it may be catalytic in nature.
The chloride ion (Cl-) rom external sources can penetrate
the metal oxide layer and oxide films on the surfaces of
rebar at specific sites and form active-passive region.
Therefore the behavior of passive film and its
improvement against damage caused by pitting process.
The passive film behavior and mechanism of pit
formation in concrete is to be very complex. The use of
common
electrochemical techniques
such as
potentiodynamic polarization may provide reliable tools
for evaluating the performance of passive film [8, 9].
The objective of present work is to study the effect of Clion concentration on the stability of passive film on
rebar in simulated concrete pore (SCP) solution with
3.5% NaCl.
Corrosion Process
Corrosion is an electrochemical process with cathodic
and anodic reactions. In the absence of chlorides and in
good quality concrete, in which the pH is usually in the
range 12.513.5, the anodic reaction leads to the
formation of iron cations, according to equation (1):
Fe Fe2+ + 2e O2 + H2O + 2e- 2(OH) -

(1)
(2)

The products of both reactions combine together and in a

last stage they produce a stable film that passivates the
reinforcing steel. The stability of this film depends

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volu me 4, Issue 12, December 2015

essentially on the oxygen availability that controls

reaction (2) and on the pH of the interstitial solution in
the interface of steel/concrete. The nature of the passive
film formed on iron in alkaline media, such as the one in
concrete, is attributed to the presence of magnetite
Fe3 O4and hematite Fe2 O3 or in the presence of -FeOOH
[10-13].

2. EXPERIMENTAL
2.1. Materials
The
electrochemical
experiments
such
as
Potentiodynamic tests were carried out by taking
threenumbers of samples of dia. 20x10 mm with
different chemical compositions. The compositions of
the materials were measured using optical emission
spectroscopy and are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Chemical composition of used specimen in weight %

Si
Mn
P
S
Cr
Cu
Ni

Sample

Sample 1

0.23

0.16

0.71

0.016

0.023

0.013

0.013

Sample 2

0.21

0.18

0.78

0.037

0.037

0.049

0.024

2.2. Sample Preparation

The steel specimens were made by cutting short lengths
from the cylindrical rod having 20 mm dia. and 10 mm
of height of which 2 cm2 was the area exposed to the
electrolyte.The
surface
finishing
procedure
recommended by ASTM with the polishing procedure
used as standard practice in metallography laboratories.
Specimen preparation or polishing is very necessary to
study the microstructure because the microscope makes
use of the principle of reflection of light to obtain the
final image of the metal structure.Following are the steps
that have been followed during the preparation of
sample.First, a reasonably flat surface of the specimen is
achieved by using a fairly coarse file or by grinding.
After intermediate and fine grinding carried out by using
silicon carbide papers progressively finer grade. The
specimens were polished using a series of silicon carbide
emery papers of grades 80, 200,400 up to 1200. The
specimen is first ground on 80 grade papers, so that
scratches are produced roughly at right angle to those
initially existing on the specimen and produced through
grinding or coarse filing operation. Which removes the
primary grinding marks, the specimen is washed free of
80 grade. Grinding is then continued on the 120 grit
paper again, turning the specimen through 90 degree and
polishing until the previous scratch marks are removed.
The final step is the fine polishing of the surface which
is obtained by using alumina (Al2 O3 ) powder placed on a
cloth covered rotating wheel. Distilled water is used as a
lubricant.In the rough polishing a very thin distorted
layer remaining that can be minimized by using fine

Specimens
Sample 1
Sample 2

Sn

As

0.028

0.001

0.006

0.037

0.014

0.016

polishing. The finishing of the surface was checked

under the optical microscope at 100 X.
2.3 Preparation of Simulated concrete pore solution
The SCP solution was prepared by taking 8.33g NaOH,
2.0gCaO, and 3.36g KOH in 1 liter of distilled water.
The solution was kept for 24 hours under stirring then
filtered on Wattman paper of No.15 grade. After that
insoluble CaO was removed from solution. An amount
of 35g NaCl was mixed in the prepared SCP solution for
achieving the aggressiveness of the electrolyte.

3. POTENTIODYNAMIC POLARIZATION
The corrosion potential and corrosion current
measurement were carried out by using CHI
Electrochemical workstation (model 680A) corrosion
system at room temperature (252o C).Three electrode
system was used where all the specimen served as
working electrodes with the exposure of 2 cm2 area. The
platinum and Ag/AgCl electrodes were utilized as
counter and reference electrodes, respectively. The open
circuit potential (OCP) measurements were recorded for
1 h to attain the stable and equilibrium potential. The
potentiodynamic polarization
experiments were
performed from the cathodic region -1.2 V to anodic
region +1.2 V with respect to OCP at the scan rate of
0.01V /sec. The corrosion current density (icorr) and
corrosion potential (Ecorr) were determined from the
Tafelplots and the corrosion rate was calculated in
mm/yr. All the electrochemical tests were repeated at
least three times to confirm the reproducibility.

Table 2: Potentiodynamic test parameters obtained in simulated concrete pore solution

Ecorr(V) Epit(V)
bc (v/decade)
ba(v/decade)
LPR(ohm cm2 )
Icorr,(A cm-2 )
-0.629
-0.622

530
515

4.679
4.090

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5.769
5.242

4.418
6.516

9.621
6.289

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volu me 4, Issue 12, December 2015

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig. 1 shows a typical schematic diagram of
potentiodynamic polarization curve of steel in
SCPsolution with 3.5 NaCl. The polarization scanned
from a potential -1.2 V more negative to +1.2 Vwith
respect to OCP at the scan rate of 0.01V /sec. The
passive region of steel sample 1 and 2 showed an
unstable anodic polarization curve due to frequently
formation and breakdown of passivity (Fig.1). From the
figures 2 and 3 it is clearly visible that large number of
pit formation has been occurred in both the samples.
However sample 1 corroded more in comparison to
sample2 due to more number of pit formations on the
steel surface. This may be due to less presence of
chromium in comparison to sample 2.
Fig. 1: Potentiodynamic polarization curve of steel
samples in SCP solution with 3.5% NaCl

5. CONCLUSIONS
The rate of anodic dissolution of metal is approximately
proportional to ionic potential. The peak of the
passivation potential is higher in the steel sample 1 and
comparatively less in steel sample 2. The localized type
of corrosion have been observed in both the steel surface
in which the pit formation is appeared in whole the
surface in sample 2 in comparison to sample 1 which
results in more corrosion rate in sample 2 in comparison
to sample 1. This may be due to the presence of more
chromium and copper in sample 2.

REFERENCES

Fig. 2: Microscopy image of exposed steel sample 1 in

SCP solution with 3.5% NaCl

Fig. 3: Microscopy image of exposed steel sample 1 in

SCP solution with 3.5% NaCl

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Volu me 4, Issue 12, December 2015

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