Chloride penetration resistance and corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete containing fly ash and limestone powder after exposed to marine environment
Abstract:
This research aims to study chloride penetration resistance and corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete exposed to marine environment for 3 years. The binders were Portland cement type 1, Portland cement type 5, pozzolan cement, fly ash and limestone powder. Fly ash to binder ratio of 0.20, 0.40 and 0.60 and limestone powder to binder ratio of 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15 were used. Water to binder ratio was varied at 0.40, 0.50 and 0.60. Reinforcing steels of RB12 were embedded in concrete cube specimens of size 20x20x20 cm at covering depths of 1, 2, 5 and 7.5 cm. Specimens were cured for 28 days before exposed in tidal zone of marine environment at Angsila, Muang, Chonburi. After 3-year exposure, the specimens were collected from site for testing the chloride content at different distance from exposed surface and the compressive strength of concrete. The embedded steels were investigated for the corrosion area and the weight loss of reinforcing steel due to chloride-induced corrosion. From the experimental results, it was found that concrete with pozzolan cement had the highest chloride penetration resistance. For binary binder concrete, concrete with fly ash or concrete with limestone not greater than 5% had higher chloride penetration resistance than concrete with Portland cement type 1 only. For ternary binder concrete, it was found that the use of higher fly ash content and lower limestone powder content to replace cement content of concrete resulted in higher chloride penetration resistance. The increase of compressive strength of concrete resulted in higher chloride penetration resistance and lower weight loss of reinforcing steel.