Steel corrosion assessment by electrochemical impedance on metakaolin blended mortars

Abstract

Since Corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete is the cause of major economic losses, Portland cement has been traditionally replaced by cements blended with pozzalanic materials, most of which have been found to reduce the corrosion of steel. This paper shows the results of an experimental research aimed to investigate the corrosion of reinforcement in mortar using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). For this, concrete laboratory samples containing a 0.0055 m steel bar and prepared with just ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and metakaolin at a replacement level of 20% were analyzed. In order to accelerate the steel corrosion process, all the samples were kept in a 3% NaCl solution and a constant anodic electrical potential was applied. Variations in the water to cementitious material ratio (0.5 and 0.6) and metakaolin proportion were analyzed, while the cementitious material to sand ratio was kept constant at 1:2.25 in all of the specimens. The results showed a reduction in corrosion rates when metakaolin was used as a blending admixture, especially at water to cementitious material ratio of 0.5.