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- Alkali-activated materials (5)
- Steel corrosion (3)
- Corrosion (2)
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- Additive manufacturing (1)
- Alkali activation (1)
- Alkali-activated (1)
- Carbonation (1)
- Chloride transport (1)
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Organisationseinheit der BAM
The main objective of this work is to determine chloride migration coefficients for alkali activated fly ash-based mortars. The effect of various mixture composition is studied. The identified values will be used in simulations of chloride transport in the alkali-activated composites, mainly to determine a critical time span of exposition to chlorides causing corrosion of reinforcement. Rapid chloride migration experiments (RCM) are performed on cylindrical specimens, 100 mm diameter, 50 mm height. Low voltage electric field (10–30 V DC) is applied as a driving force for the accelerated chloride penetration. The chloride front in the sample is identified according to NT Build 492 standard after given time of penetration (depending on the electrical current ~ 3 hours) on a fracture surface using silver nitrate solution.
Further, accelerated diffusion experiments are performed in order to verify the migration coefficients obtained using RCM. The total chloride content is determined, and chloride profiles obtained on powder ground from separate layers of the specimen.
The development of alkali‐activated materials (AAMs) as an alternative to Portland cement (PC) has seen significant progress in the past decades. However, there still remains significant uncertainty regarding their long term performance when used in steel‐reinforced structures. The durability of AAMs in such applications depends strongly on the corrosion behaviour of the embedded steel reinforcement, and the experimental data in the literature are limited and in some cases inconsistent. This letter elucidates the role of the chemistry of AAMs on the mechanisms governing passivation and chloride‐induced corrosion of the steel reinforcement, to bring a better understanding of the durability of AAM structures exposed to chloride. The corrosion of the steel reinforcement in AAMs differs significantly from observations in PC; the onset of pitting (or the chloride ‘threshold’ value) depends strongly on the alkalinity, and the redox environment, of these binders. Classifications or standards used to assess the severity of steel corrosion in PC appear not to be directly applicable to AAMs due to important differences in pore solution chemistry and phase assemblage.
Alkali-activated materials such as geopolymers are currently receiving a lot of attention because of their potential to be used as binders for concrete with advantageous engineering properties and reduced manufacturing CO2 emissions. Knowledge of the durability of steel in these concretes and related properties of alkali-activated materials is a prerequisite for their application as building materials, if they are to be used for steel reinforced elements. However, to date only limited data exists on this topic. The present contribution focuses on durability-related transport properties of geopolymer-based mortars (as model systems for concrete). We report results of accelerated carbonation, rapid chloride migration (RCM) and air permeability measurements as well as porosity data for fly ash-based geopolymer mortars, including mixes containing ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS). In addition, we report polarization resistance data and corrosion potential vs. time curves for carbon steel bars embedded in two of the fly ash-based geopolymer mortars and a CEM I-based mortar (as reference).
Despite comparable total porosities, the carbonation depths, the chloride migration coefficients and the air permeabilities of the mortars differed significantly. In general, the addition of GGBFS to the binders improved the performance (decreased transport coefficients); however, this was not found to be true for the air permeability in all cases. This latter effect can be explained by drying damage of the C-(A-)S-H gel in GGBFS-containing binders. On the other hand, low transport coefficients can also be achieved by optimization of the binder formulation without the addition of GGBFS, which is also reflected in the material’s air permeability. Thus, there exists no simple correlation between air permeability (of harshly dried mortars) and durability-related transport coefficients for the studied alkali-activated materials.
The corrosion potential vs. time curves in combination with polarization resistance values reveal that the steel reinforcement in geopolymer mortars assumed a passive state. However, this happened considerably later than for steel in CEM I-based mortars. The free corrosion potential of carbon steel reinforcement in the geopolymer mortars had different values than the free corrosion potential values for the CEM I-based mortar for both the active and the passive state; possible reasons for this behavior are discussed.
Corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete is one of the major deterioration mechanisms limiting the service life of reinforced concrete structures. While for conventional (Portland cement-based) concretes a great amount of experience exists in this regard, the factors that determine the onset of reinforcement corrosion in alkali-activated materials are incompletely understood yet. One aspect of corrosion protection is leaching and the accompanying changes of the concrete pore solution. In the present study, alkali-activated fly ash mortars with embedded carbon steel rebars were exposed to de-ionised water for periods up to 330 days, and the electrochemical response of the steel (free corrosion potential, polarisation resistance), the alteration of the mortar (ohmic resistance, mechanical strength, pore size distribution) as well as the pore solution composition were monitored. Although substantial alkali leaching was observed, the pH of the pore solution remained at values sufficient to protect the embedded steel from depassivation. The mortar did not exhibit indications of significant deterioration. Thus, the present results suggest that leaching is not critical for protection of steel reinforcement in alkali-activated fly ash mortars and concretes.
Additive manufacturing of alkali-activated materials currently attracts a lot of attention, because of the possibility to produce customized high-performance elements for a range of applications, potentially being more resource-efficient than conventionally produced parts. Here, we describe a new additive manufacturing process for alkali-activated materials that is based on selective laser-heating of lithium aluminate/microsilica slurries. The new process-material combination allows to manufacture elements with complex geometries at high building rates and high accuracy. The process is versatile and transferrable to structures of sizes differing by orders of magnitude. The mechanical strength of the obtained materials was in the range of values reported for conventional metakaolin-based geopolymers, and superior to what has been hitherto reported for alkali-activated materials produced by additive manufacturing. This mechanical performance was obtained despite the fact that the degree of reaction of the lithium aluminate and the microsilica was low, suggesting that significant reactions took place only at the surface of the microsilica particles.
Der kritische, Korrosion auslösende Chloridgehalt für die Beurteilung der Korrosions-beständigkeit von Betonstahl in Geopolymerbetonen ist von großer Bedeutung für die Dauerhaftigkeitsprognose für bewehrte Elemente aus solchen Materialien. Es sind kaum experimentelle Daten in der Fachliteratur vorhanden und die vorliegenden Werte unterscheiden sich zwischen den Studien erheblich. In diesem Projekt wurde der kritische, Korrosion auslösende Chloridgehalt für Betonstahl (BSt 500) in flugaschebasierten (Ca-armen) Geopolymermörtel für verschiedene Beaufschlagungskombinationen bestimmt: Chloridbeaufschlagung mit 1 M NaCl-Lösung; Auslaugen in entionisiertem Wasser und anschließende Chloridbeaufschlagung im 1 M NaCl-Lösung; Auslaugen in entionisiertem Wasser, Carbonatisierung in Luft bei 20 °C und natürlicher CO2 Konzentration und anschließende Chloridbeaufschlagung mit 1 M NaCl-Lösung. Für Referenz-Zwecke wurde zusätzlich der Korrosion auslösende Chloridgehalt für eine Portland-Zement Mischung bei Auslagerung in 1 M NaCl-Lösung bestimmt.
Chloride contents at the steel–mortar interface that initiate steel corrosion were determined for carbon steel in alkali‐activated fly ash mortar for three different exposure conditions: exposure to 1 M NaCl solution; leaching in deionized water and then exposure to 1 M NaCl solution; and leaching in deionized water, aging in air at 20°C and natural CO2 concentration, and then exposure to 1 M NaCl solution. For comparison, a Portland cement mortar, exposed to 1 M NaCl solution, was studied. The median values of the corrosion‐initiating chloride contents (average over the full length of the rebar) in the alkali‐activated fly ash mortar varied between 0.35 and 1.05 wt% Cl with respect to binder, consistently lower than what was obtained for the Portland cement mortar, but with no clear trend regarding the exposure conditions. For most of the alkali‐activated fly ash mortar specimens, preferential corrosion at the connection between the working electrode and the external measurement setup was observed, while preferential corrosion did not occur for the Portland cement mortar. Scanning electron microscopy and auxiliary experiments in synthetic solutions indicated that this behavior was caused by inhomogeneities at the steel–mortar interface in the alkali‐activated mortar, likely due to its peculiar rheological properties in the fresh state.
Alkali-activated fly ash mortars were studied with regard to durability-relevant transport coefficients and the electrochemical behaviour of embedded carbon steel bars on exposure of the mortars to leaching, carbonation and chloride penetration environments. The transport coefficients differed considerably between different formulations, being lowest for a mortar with BFS addition, but still acceptable for one of the purely fly ash-based mortars. Leaching over a period of ~300 days in de-ionized water did not lead to observable corrosion of the embedded steel, as shown by the electrochemical data and visual inspection of the steel. Exposure to 100 % CO2 atmosphere caused steel depassivation within approx. two weeks; in addition, indications of a deterioration of the mortar were observed. The results are discussed in the context of the different reaction products expected in high- and low-Ca alkali-activated binders, and the alterations caused by leaching and carbonation.