Steel Corrosion in a Chloride Contaminated Concrete Pore Solution with Low Oxygen Availability

Abstract

It is commonly mentioned that in concrete chloride induced corrosion is controlled by the oxygen content in such a manner that in water saturated conditions no oxygen will be present and thus no corrosion can develop. In the present paper, experimentation has been made in low oxygen availability “pore” solutions with several amounts of chlorides. These situations may represent the case of a water saturated concrete. The results indicate that at very low oxygen contents, i.e. almost negligible because complete removal is very difficult, corrosion may develop in presence of chlorides. The presence or absence of corrosion is influenced by the amount of chloride, its corrosion potential and the steel surface condition.