Title:
Influence of Cement Composition and Content on the Corrosion Behavior of Reinforcing Steel in Concrete
Author(s):
Rasheeduzzafar, Fahd H. Dakhil and Khan M. Mukarram
Publication:
Symposium Paper
Volume:
100
Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
1477-1502
Keywords:
blended cements; cement content; cement types; corrosion; concrete durability; C3A; electrical resistance; fly ash; performance; pH; pozzolans; reinforcing steels; Materials Research
DOI:
10.14359/2174
Date:
4/1/1987
Abstract:
Performance data based on accelerated corrosion monitoring and exposure site tests indicate that cement type, reflecting particularly the C3A content, significantly affected concrete durability with respect to corrosion of reinforcing steel. On an average, Type I cement (C3A:9.5 percent) performed 1.7 times better than Type V cement (C3A:2.8 percent) in terms of time to initiation of corrosion. Further, with respect to corrosion, concretes made with fly ash blended cements performed better than no-fly ash concretes with the best performance shown for 30 percent cement replacement. The greatest beneficial effect of pozzolan addition was provided in conjunction with low w/c ratios of 0.385 and 0.45. The electrical resistivity for portland-pozzolan concrete made with 25 percent cement replacement was found to be three times that of straight cement concrete, irrespective of w/c ratio in the range of 0.35 to 0.65. Depending on the extent of replacement, pH values for concretes made with fly-ash blended cements were observed to be in the range of 12.70 to 12.93 after 600 days of exposure to the outdoor environment at Khahran in Eastern Saudi Arabia. However, the pH values dropped below that of pure saturated Ca(OH)2 solution (12.50) for chloride-contaminated concrete made with fly-ash blended cement with observed detrimental consequences for corrosion of reinforcement. Increase in the cement factor with attendant reduction in w/c ratio provided a most beneficial effect on time to initiation of corrosion of reinforcing steel.