Corrosion behaviour of stainless steel reinforcement in concrete

Abstract

In Europe, stainless steel rebars have been used since the mid-80s, whilst in North America, their use has been progressively growing only since the mid-90s. Due to their higher resistance to corrosion in comparison to ordinary black steel bars, they have been employed in a wide number of applications worldwide to achieve the durability performance of reinforced concrete structures, especially in extremely corrosive marine environments or when long service lives are required. In this paper, a state of the art on the corrosion resistance of stainless steel bars is reported. In particular, the contribution of Professor Luca Bertolini in this research field is considered. Initially, different testing methods are presented to point out their advantages and limitations and then the results on corrosion behaviour of different grades of stainless steel bars (i.e. austenitic, ferritic and duplex), obtained especially with tests in concrete, are analysed. Afterwards, some of the recent applications of stainless steel bars are illustrated.

Stainless steels: Passive film composition, pitting potentials, and critical chloride content in concrete

“…[ 4,5 ] It is well documented that austenitic and duplex stainless steels require up to 10 times higher chloride content to initiate corrosion in concrete and also exhibit much higher pitting potentials than plain carbon steel. [ 6–9 ] In the past, stainless steel reinforcements have been successfully used in a wide range of applications such as bridge engineering, multistorey car park decks, historic buildings, and many others. [ 8–11 ] A striking example of the use of stainless steel is a pier in the Gulf of Mexico, constructed around 1940.…”

“…[ 6–9 ] In the past, stainless steel reinforcements have been successfully used in a wide range of applications such as bridge engineering, multistorey car park decks, historic buildings, and many others. [ 8–11 ] A striking example of the use of stainless steel is a pier in the Gulf of Mexico, constructed around 1940. Despite the adverse marine environment, high temperature and humidity, and low cover depth, no corrosion has been observed so far.…”

“…Although the corrosion behavior of black steel, iron–chromium alloys, and stainless steels in alkaline solutions and in concrete is broadly described, [ 7–16 ] the formation and analytical characterization of the passive film on the steel surface, responsible for the high corrosion resistance of these alloys in alkaline environment, is by far less known. A recent paper of the authors in the Encyclopedia of Interfacial Chemistry [19 and literature cited] summarizes the knowledge in the field combining results from electrochemical and surface analytical studies.…”

Seismic Design and Performance Assessment of Frame Buildings Reinforced by Dual-Phase Steel

“…However, in recent years, it has become possible to enhance the properties of steel bars. For example, Lollini et al [14] and Gu and Meng [15] presented the applications of stainless steel in construction. Maffei et al [16] and Salvatore et al [17] analysed the possibility of adopting dual-phase (DP) steels for civil construction.…”

Improvement of the corrosion characteristics of 1.4713 ferritic steel in 0.1 M sulfuric acid by heat treatment and Al2O3–TiO2 coating

“…Due to fluctuations of the nickel price, in the last two decades, the use of duplex and austenitic SS with a low nickel content has been increased and the global shift from austenitic to Ni‐less ferritic SS is currently taking place. [ 6,7 ]…”