The effect of a corrosion inhibitor on the rehabilitation of reinforced concrete containing sea sand and seawater

Abstract

Concrete made with sea sand and seawater is rich in chlorine ions which are the main factors that induce corrosion of the reinforcement. In this study, an innovative method to rehabilitate reinforcement is presented; the concentrations of chloride ions and the corrosion inhibitor in concrete were measured. Electrochemical chloride extraction (ECE) was applied as a control experiment via using saturated Ca(OH)2 solution as an external electrolyte. Bidirectional electromigration (BIEM)technology combined with the corrosion inhibitor could not only remove the chloride ions but also protect the steel bar in concrete, and animidazoline inhibitor mixed in concrete is more effective than thetriethylenetetramine inhibitor due to the specific molecular structure. It was found that the optimum ratio of N/Cl reached the maximum value 3.3, when the concentration of inhibitor was 1. Meanwhile, the experimental results also revealed that the corrosion inhibitor and chloride ion concentrations reached necessary levels on the surface of the steel, and the corrosion inhibitor migrated effectively. Overall, the contents of imidazoline and triethylenetetramine inhibitor in seawater concrete are0.75% and 1%, respectively. The results demonstrate that the addition of the corrosion inhibitor and the application of bidirectional electromigration would effectively improve the durability of reinforced concrete containing sea sand and seawater.