On the corrosion of reinforcing steels in concrete in the presence of chlorides

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to give a scientific justification to some empirical results, in steel corrosion field, from concrete containing chlorides. First, it appears that corrosion products on the steels, have different structures and natures in function of the chloride content would be inferior or superior to a characteristic value. Second, the penetration of the chlorides in the concrete can be described by a simple Fick's diffusion law in the most frecuent cases. When cement has a high proportion of tricalcium aluminates and the concrete a small porosity, Fick's law cannot be applied.