Ingeniería de Materiales Universidad Nacional de San Agustin

Curso de Corrosion y Degradacion de Materiales

Nota Técnica 2

Corrosion Basics—Corrosion Damage in

Reinforced Concrete
By Pierre R. Roberge on 10/1/2018 1:06 PM

Reinforced concrete bridge decks constitute the weakest link in North America’s infrastructure
network.

Reinforced concrete bridge decks constitute the weakest link in North America’s
infrastructure network.
The main causes of corrosion of steel in concrete are chloride attack and carbonation. These
two mechanisms are unusual in that they do not attack the integrity of the concrete. Instead,
aggressive chemical species pass through the pores in the concrete and attack the steel. This
is unlike normal deterioration processes resulting from chemical attack on concrete. Other
acids and aggressive ions such as sulfate destroy the integrity of the concrete before the
steel is affected. Most forms of chemical attack are therefore concrete problems before they
are corrosion problems. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and chloride ions are very unusual in
penetrating the concrete without significantly damaging it.1
Forty percent of the bridges in North America are 40 years old and concrete is the primary
material of construction.2 It was recognized by the mid-1970s that the deterioration of
concrete-bridge structures was caused by the corrosion of the reinforcing steel in the
concrete, which, in turn, was induced by the intrusion of chloride from the deicing salts into
the concrete. According to a 1997 report, of the 581,862 bridges in the U.S. national bridge
inventory, ~40% were either functionally or structurally deficient. Most of these bridges
were severely deteriorated with extensive loss of serviceability and reduced safety, with
some of the bridges load-posted so that overweight trucks would be required to take a
longer alternate route.3
The estimated cost to eliminate all backlog bridge deficiencies (both structural and
functional) in Canada was estimated at $10 billion2 and in the United States to be $78
billion, increasing to as much as $112 billion, depending on the number of years it would
take to meet the objective. Although corrosion of the reinforcing steel was not the sole
cause of all structural deficiencies, it was a significant contributor and has therefore become
a matter of major concern.
Reinforced concrete bridge decks constitute the weakest link in North America’s
infrastructure network. An extensive area of these decks is severely damaged through the
exposure to deicing salts and traffic. It is estimated that one-third to one-half of projected
direct costs will be allocated to bridge decks. However, even though the cost of maintaining
bridge decks is becoming prohibitively expensive, the benefits provided by deicing salts are
too great in terms of reducing vehicular accidents and minimizing traffic disruption.4
Therefore, its use is not likely to decrease in the future. In fact, the use of road-deicing
salts, which are extremely corrosive because of the disruptive effects of their chloride ions
on protective films on metals, has actually increased in the first half of the 1990s after
leveling off during the 1980s.
A number of fundamental measures can be taken to address the problem of reinforcing steel
corrosion; for example, creating a barrier between the concrete and/or the rebar and the
existing environment, applying cathodic protection to the rebar structure, or using
alternative methods of reinforcement, such as fiber-reinforced polymer composites. For
new structures, it is believed that much progress will be made toward effective corrosion
control as the implementation of life-cycle costing strategies are adopted, as opposed to
awarding contracts on the basis of lowest initial capital cost outlays. With such a vision,
using a more corrosion-resistant stainless steel rebar material, for example, could prove to
be a cost-effective route even if it increases the initial cost of rebar by an appreciable
number. In areas of strategic importance such as highway belts of most modern cities, the
total cost of repairs is greatly amplified by adding the indirect costs of traffic disruptions.
References
1 J.P. Broomfield, Corrosion of Steel in Concrete (London, U.K.: FN Spon, 1997).
2 Z. Lounis, “Maintenance Management of Aging Bridges: Economical and Technological
Challenges,” Canadian Civil Engineer 19 (2002): pp. 20-23.
3 “Corrosion Protection: Concrete Bridges,” U.S. Dept. of Transportation, FHWA-RD- 98-
088, Washington, DC, 1998.
4 “Highway Deicing: Comparing Salt and Calcium Magnesium Acetate,” National
Research Council, Transportation Research Board, Special Report 235, Washington, DC,
1991.