Abstract
This work presents experimental results comparing the corrosion durability of two formulations of a novel, non-hydraulic, calcium silicate cement (CSC) concrete to that of one type of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete. Cured CSC-based concrete has a lower pore water pH (9-11) than OPC-based concrete (13-14), likely resulting in a corrosion initiation stage that is comparatively shorter. However, CSC-based concrete has a higher resistivity than OPC-based concrete, making the formation of corrosion macrocells more difficult. Corrosion experiments were performed to evaluate the corrosion-related durability of these two formulations. The array of tests included exposure to fresh water and salt water (each alternate wetting and drying regimes) and a high humidity environment. Additionally, accelerated corrosion propagation test were performed to assess the ability of each concrete formulation to accommodate corrosion products as an indicator of the duration of the corrosion propagation stage. The corrosion performance of each concrete formulation was evaluated in terms of chloride diffusivity, corrosion rate, and the critical corrosion penetration required to crack the concrete. The preliminary data were used to predict the service life of the steel reinforced concrete.
