Investigations Into the Time to Corrosion and Corrosion Initiating Chloride Contents for Steel in Concrete

Investigations Into the Time to Corrosion and Corrosion Initiating Chloride Contents for Steel in Concrete The present paper highlights the results of a German-Israeli research project. The research work was conducted in order to improve the understanding for the influence of the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between steel and concrete on the critical (corrosion inducing) chloride content for black steel in concrete. In order to reach that goal an extensive electrochemical test series covering 15 different concrete mixes was established aiming at initiation times and critical chloride contents. For each concrete mix a pair of test specimens with a vertical and a horizontal rebar arrangement with regard to the cast direction was investigated. In this way it was possible to consider not only the influence of mix variations but also of craftsmanship on the ITZ The results show that mix variations have a measurable impact on the initiation time while the formation of the critical chloride content seems to be dominated by the rebar arrangement It is emphasized that these aspects should be considered in any test procedure regarding the critical chloride content of black steel in concrete