Corrosion of cement paste coated steel bars in marine environment

A detailed experimental investigation was carried out to understand the performance of different cement paste coated steel bars against chloride-induced corrosion. Cylinder concrete specimens of diameter 100 mm and height 200 mm were made with steel bars embedded in concrete at a cover depth of 20 mm. Twenty-two separate cases were made with and without cement paste coated steel bars. W/C ratio of cement paste was varied from 0.3 to 1.0. After curing for one-month, the specimens were exposed to an accelerated chloride-induced corrosion environment. Each cycle of exposure consists 3.5 days under seawater exposure at 60^oc and 3.5 days drying under atmospheric exposure. The specimens were tested after 10, 20, and 45 cycles of exposure. The test items include compressive strength of concrete, chloride ingress into concrete (acid soluble and water soluble chloride content), electrochemical evaluation of corrosion (half cell potential, polarization resistance of steel bars, concrete resistance, and anodic polarization curves), microscope investigations of steel-concrete interface, and physical evaluation of corrosion (corroded area, pit depth, weight loss) over the steel bars. Based on this investigation, it is revealed that time to initiate corrosion is significantly increased for cement paste coated steel bars, particularly for coating with a low W/C. It is understood that chloride threshold limit for initiation of corrosion over the steel bars is significantly influenced by the nature of the steel-concrete interface around steel bars. The relationship between water soluble chloride content in concrete and acid soluble chloride content in concrete is also proposed.