Corrosion Behavior of Pre-Rusted Rebars in Cement Mortar Exposed to Harsh Environments

Rebar embedded inside reinforced concrete structures becomes corroded due to various factors. However, few studies have focused on the corrosion of pre-rusted rebar embedded in cement composites, and the findings reported thus far are inconsistent. Therefore, in this study, an experimental program was undertaken to examine the effect of pre-rusting on the further corrosion of reinforcements in cement composites. Pre-rust was induced using two different solutions (CaCl2 and HCl). The corrosion rate in the cement composite was analyzed using the half-cell potential and polarization resistance methods. In addition, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis and X-ray diffraction analysis were used to examine the morphology of the rust. The results show that the corrosion rate of the rebar embedded in the cement composite can be increased by more than 3.8 times depending on the pre-rust conditions (RE: 0.0009 mm/year, HCl: 0.0035 mm/year). In addition, we found that the corrosion products in the pre-rusted layer were comparable to those of the rebar corroded in the marine atmosphere.