Issue 50

A.G. Lekatou et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 50 (2019) 423-437; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.50.36 428 Figure 1 : Cyclic polarization curves of 304L rebars in electrolytes containing Ca(OH) 2 , acid rain simulating solution and fly ash at different contents: (a) acidic pHs, anodic and cathodic scans; (b) alkaline pHs, anodic scans. Fig.2 compares the voltammograms of 304L rebars immersed in the two electrolytes. The superiority of the corrosion per- formance of 304L in the high pH electrolyte is clear, both kinetically-wise (curves shifted to lower currents as compared to the acidic solutions) and thermodynamically-wise (nobler corrosion potentials as compared to the acidic solutions). Higher pHs, favour stability of the passive films (According to the respective Pourbaix diagrams [43], in the corrosion potential range of this work, both Cr and Ni can be active at pHs<4-5). The nobler corrosion potential values in the case of the alkaline pHs as compared to those in the case of the mildly acidic pHs can be justified by the smaller difference between the reversible potentials for metal (Fe, Cr, Ni) dissolution and oxygen reduction in alkaline solutions in comparison with the difference between the reversible potentials for oxygen reduction in aerated mildly acidic solutions. Comparison of 304L and 316L electrochemical performances Fig.3 compares the forward voltammograms of 316L and 304L rebars polarized in the same electrolyte. The higher cor- rosion resistance of 316L rebars as compared to 304L rebars, with regard to slower corrosion kinetics (shift of polarization curves to lower currents) and less thermodynamic tendency for corrosion (nobler E corr ) is manifested. Previous work has demonstrated the high resistance of the 316L rebars to localized corrosion [35]. The inferior corrosion performance of the -2000 -1500 -1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500 2000 0.000001 0.00001 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 Potential (mV, Ag/AgCl) Current density (mA/cm 2 ) 304L, Ca(OH) 2 + fly ash + acid rain 0% FA-forward 0 % FA-reverse 10% FA-forward 10% FA-reverse 15% FA-forward 15% FA-reverse 20% FA-forward 20% FA-reverse 25% FA-forward 25% FA-reverse E cor E a/c tr (a) -600 -400 -200 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1E-08 0.0000001 0.000001 0.00001 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 Potential (mV, Ag/AgCl) Current density (mA/cm 2 ) 304 L, Ca(OH) 2 + fly ash + acid rain 0% FA-forward 0% FA-reverse 10% FA-forward 10% FA-reverse 15% FA-forward 15% FA-reverse 20% FA-forward 20% FA-reverse 25% FA-forward 25% FA-reverse (b)