The influence of EAF dust on resistivity of concrete and corrosion of steel bars embedded in concrete

Essentially, when electrical current flows easily in concrete that has large pores filled with highly connective pore water, this is an indication of a low resistivity concrete. In concrete, the flow of current between anodic and cathodic sites on a steel reinforcing bar surface is regulated by the concrete electrical resistance. Therefore, deterioration of any existing reinforced concrete structure due to corrosion of reinforcement steel bar is governed, to some extent, by resistivity of concrete. Resistivity of concrete can be improved by using SCMs and thus increases the concrete electrical resistance and the ability of concrete to resist chloride ingress and/or oxygen penetration resulting in prolonging the onset of corrosion. After depassivation it may slow down the corrosion rate of the steel bar. This indicates the need for further study of the effect of electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) addition on the concrete resistivity. In this study, concrete specimens rather than mortars were cast with different additions of EAFD to verify the electrochemical results obtained and to try to understand the role of EAFD addition in influencing the corrosion behaviour of reinforcing steel bar embedded in concrete and its relation to the resistivity of concrete. The results of these investigations indicated that the corrosion resistance of steel bars embedded in concrete containing EAFD was improved, which may link to the high resistivity found in EAFD-concrete. In this paper, potential measurements, corrosion rates, gravimetric corrosion weight results and resistivity measurements will be presented and their relationships will also be discussed in details.