Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., 15 (2020) 6135 – 6142, doi: 10.20964/2020.07.

65

International Journal of
ELECTROCHEMICAL
SCIENCE
www.electrochemsci.org

Short Communication
Effect of Bagasse Ash Admixture on Corrosion Behavior of Low
Carbon Steel Reinforced Concrete in Marine Environment
QingYan Zhang1,*, Hualei Li2, Hongwei Feng1, Tao Jiang1
1
Xinxiang University, Xinxiang, Henan 453003, China
2
Xinxiang Vocational and Technical College, Xinxiang, Henan 453003, China
*
E-mail: qingyanzhang00@sina.com

Received: 14 March 2020 / Accepted: 27 April 2020 / Published: 10 June 2020

The effect of bagasse ash (BA) admixture in various concentrations into Portland cement on the
electrochemical corrosion resistance of carbon steel reinforced concrete was evaluated by
electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and polarization methods during immersion in 3.5 wt% NaCl
solution as the marine environment. Reinforced concrete with 10 wt% BA was most effective for
enhancing the corrosion resistance of the steel rebar due to the decrease of water absorptivity and
chloride ion permeability. The surface morphology of the samples indicated that irregularity and
separation structures on the steel rebar were improved by adding BA. The results indicate that the BA
as an admixture increases concert durability and prevents the corroding ions from reaching the surface
of the steel rebars which can be an alternative material in the development of construction industry.

Keywords: Bagasse ash; Electrochemical corrosion resistance; Low carbon steel rebar;
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy; polarization

1. INTRODUCTION

Reinforced concrete is currently used in major infrastructures such as ports, tunnels, bridges
and marine construction [1]. However, its durability can be particularly compromised by corrosion
processes [2]. One of the most important causes of damage in reinforcement concrete is chloride-
induced corrosion [3]. There are various approaches to prevent corrosion in reinforcement concrete
such as epoxy coatings, corrosion inhibitors and cathodic protection [4-6]. However, these techniques
are not very effective and expensive.
A partial replacement for Portland cement (PC) through supplementary cementitious materials
(SCM) can be another ecological and viable option to prevent corrosion [7]. SCM reduces the
permeability and porosity of concrete because of the formation of cementitious compounds through a
reaction of pozzolanic with the calcium hydroxide from the cement hydration [8].
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 15, 2020 6136

Mineral additives are usually used in several applications such as high performance concrete
buildings, bridges and off-shore and on-shore structures. Famous mineral additives include fly ash, rice
husk ash, and silica fume [9, 10]. The addition of these materials in the concrete production have
positive environmental effects and minimizing problems related to its disposal.
Bagasse ash (BA) is a by-product derived from the combustion of bagasse in sugar factories
[11]. It is mostly deposited in open dumps which causes pollution and disposal problems. Once the BA
is post-treated, it could be utilized as SCM in concrete and mortar mixtures due to its pozzolanic
property which develops the concrete microstructure without adverse effects on its mechanical
activities [12, 13].
In this case, replacement of fine aggregates can lead to improved durability using pore
refinement and enhanced resistance to the diffusion of deleterious agents. A number of studies have
found that the possible benefits of BA in decreasing the macro-pores is greater than 0.1 µm and
remarkably increasing the resistance to chloride diffusion in SCM [14, 15]. However, the BA influence
on durability of concrete structure in terms of corrosion improvement, mainly in combination with
SCM is still deficient and unclear. Thus, this study aims to investigate the effect of BA as a partial fine
aggregate in corrosion procedure of reinforced PC concrete. In this work, reinforced concrete with
different BA contents were assessed by electrochemical characterizations such as corrosion rate and
corrosion potential under a marine environment.

2. MATERIALS AND METHOD:

In this study, concrete specimens were cast using different concentrations of bagasse ash (0, 5,
10 and 15%) by weight of cement which were produced with replacement of PC by BA. The chemical
compositions of the PC and BA used are shown in Table 1. The PC was mixed with gravel, sand, and
water (1.5: 1: 3: 0.5) to prepare concrete structure. The mixed cements were made by a high-speed
mixer machine to attain a heterogeneous dispersion. Carbon steel rebars were utilized as a working
electrode in electrochemical test.

Table 1. Chemical compositions of the bagasse ash and Portland cement

Parameters Portland cement Bagasse ash

SiO2 (%) 19.98 51.74
Al2O3 (%) 4.74 9.52
Fe2O3 (%) 3.02 2.65
CaO (%) 63.53 9.82
MgO (%) 2.04 4.36
K2O (%) 0.65 9.53
Na2O (%) 0.27 4.45
SO3 (%) 2.65 3.42
LOI (%) 3.12 4.51
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 15, 2020 6137

The chemical composition of the carbon steel rebars was C (0.1 wt%), Si(1.5wt%), Mn(0.83
wt%), Cr(0.06 wt%), Ni(0.1 wt%), Al(0.01 wt%), Cu(0.34wt%), Fe is the balance. Carbon steel
reinforcement with a diameter of 1 cm and the length of 6 cm was placed in the cylinder at a cover of 3
cm. Mild steel bars were first immersed in acetone solution and then washed with deionized water.
The open circuit potential of the different samples were periodically performed by a high-
impedance voltmeter with 10 MΩ input resistance. A three-electrode electrichemical system, including
of the mild steel rebar, graphite and a standard copper/copper sulfate electrode were used as the
working, counter and reference electrodes, respectively. All analysis were done in the 3.5% w/w NaCl
solution as a simulated marine environment. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS, Wuhan
CorrTest Instruments Corp., Ltd.) were done at 10 mV amplitude with scanning range of 0.01 Hz to
0.1 MHz. The polarization measurement was done from 250 mV at scanning rate of 1 mV/s. The
surface morphologies of the specimens were studied by Zeiss Sigma 300 VP scanning electron
microscope (SEM).

3. RESULTS and DISCUSSION

Low carbon steel reinforced concretes were produced with replacement of PC by different
concentrations of bagasse ash (BA). Figure 1 indicates corrosion potential of specimens exposed to 3.5
wt% NaCl solution which show that the samples with BA contents more than 5 wt% have a 10%
corrosion probability for the whole exposure time, with corrosion potential of larger than -200 mV.
Samples with 0 wt% BA revealed an uncertain corrosion from 1 to 6 weeks with the potential values
between -300 mV and -200 mV vs. CSE, associated to the initiation of pitting corrosion or small
separation of the passive layer [16].

Figure 1. Corrosion potential of steel reinforced concrete produced by replacement of PC by different

contents of bagasse ash exposed to 3.5 wt% NaCl solution
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 15, 2020 6138

The corrosion potential values for 10 wt% BA sample indicated a more stable potential value
than the other samples, where their potential values remained completely in 10% corrosion probability
region. One of the most important properties of the BA is its significant influence on the durability of
concrete [17, 18], which is due to the decrease in calcium hydroxide, solubility of hydration products
and change in pore solution.
Figure 2 indicates the polarization curves of low carbon steel rebars in various concrete
specimens exposed to 3.5 wt% NaCl environment after five weeks exposure period. The anodic
polarization plots were evaluated by passive zones in all steel rebars, indicating that the passive films
had obviously been created on the surface of the rebars when they were exposed to 3.5 wt% NaCl
solution [19, 20]. Moreover, a considerable shift into a more positive corrosion potential was found
which showed that the anodic metal dissolution was efficiently retarded by varying the concrete
content [21, 22].

Figure 2. Polarisation curves of low carbon steel rebar in different concrete specimens exposed to 3.5
wt% NaCl environment after five weeks exposure time

Table 2. Fitting results of polarization plots for the carbon steel rebars in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution

Concrete Corrosion current Corrosion βc -βa

density potential (mVdec-1) (mVdec-1)
PC 0.231 µA/cm2 -0.232 V 195 215
5 wt% BA 0.166 µA/cm2 -0.198 V 196 206
10 wt% BA 0.035 µA/cm2 -0.116 V 178 238
15 wt% BA 0.093 µA/cm2 -0.164 V 187 221

The corrosion parameters are shown in table 2 which were attained from the polarization plots
in figure 2.
The classification of corrosion can be introduced in four levels proposed by Durar Network
Specification [23]. However, the 10 wt% BA sample shows lower corrosion current density than that
of the other samples in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution (Table 2). Hence, steel reinforced concretes with BA
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 15, 2020 6139

content more than 5 wt% remained in the passive state throughout the experiment which indicated a
high corrosion resistance of low steel rebar in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution.
Furthermore, anodic Tafel slope (βa) and cathodic Tafel slope (βc) were determined by the
Tafel extrapolation technique which are indicated in table 2. The values of βa and βc were changed in
different concrete structures. The variation of Tafel slope values may be used to recognise the
inhibition mechanism (cathodic or anodic) for carbon steel rebar, the electrolyte concentration, the
working electrode composition and the charge transfer coefficient [24].
Given that the BA contents can reduce the porosity and water absorptivity in concrete structure,
the corrosion resistance of low carbon steel rebar can be enhanced by addition BA [25, 26]. Thus, the
BA replacement aids to promote a reinforced concrete structure that decreases the absorption of
chloride rou

Figure 3. Nyquist plots of low carbon steel rebar in different concrete specimens exposed to 3.5 wt%
NaCl environment

EIS technique was used to evaluate the corrosion resistance of low carbon steel rebar
embedded into the concretes with various admixtures at 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. Figure 3 shows the
Nyquist plots reached by the EIS analysis. The equivalent circuit used to fit EIS data is shown in
Figure 4. Where Rs is the solution resistance. Q1 and R1 reveal the capacitance and resistance of the
coated concrete, respectively. Q2 and R2 are the double-layer capacitance and the charge ransfer
resistance of steel rebar surface, respectively [27]. The obtained data are shown in Table 3.

Figure 4. Equivalent circuit model used to fit EIS data

Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 15, 2020 6140

Table 3. The achieved data from the equivalent circuit used to fit EIS data

Concrete Rs (Ω) R1 (kΩ) Q1(μF cm-2) R2 (kΩ) Q2(μF cm-2)

PC 23.6 5.25 6.4 7.62 8.3
5 wt% BA 15.8 9.87 3.3 17.68 5.9
10 wt% BA 18.7 20.48 1.7 32.14 2.8
15 wt% BA 21.3 14.36 2.5 23.25 3.7

These results indicate that by the proper replacement of BA in the PC, R 1 increases and Q2
reduces, which shows an improvement in the stability of the passive film and corrosion resistance on
the low carbon steel rebar [28]. Due to the high surface area of the BA, it can form a strong adhesion to
hydrated cement, causing a better growth inhibition of the calcium hydroxide [29]. The BA admixtures
fill the tiny cracks and capillary pores and ultimately shrink the structure of cement. These agents
enhance the corrosion resistance of carbon steel rebars in aggressive solutions. Moreover, comparing
Q2 and Q1, it was observed that Q1 was lower than Q2 in all specimens which had proven that the
formation of double and passive layers at the interfaces had high capacitive behavior [30, 31].

Figure 5. SEM images of carbon steel rebars in different concrets. (a) PC concrete, (b) 10 wt% BA
concrete exposed to 3.5 wt% NaCl environment after five weeks exposure time
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 15, 2020 6141

Figure 5 indicates the surface morphology of carbon steel rebars in different concerts with and
without BA, and exposed to 3.5 wt% NaCl environment after five weeks. The irregularity and
separation structures were improved by adding BA. Figure 5b shows that the rebar sample containing
10 wt% BA is more uniform than that of the PC sample which are practically in agreement with
previous studies reported [32-34]. The BA contains high concentrations of SiO2 and Al2O3, which
decrease the hydration heat that caused by the reaction of water-cement [35]. Furthermore, the BA is
investigated as a filler, which reduces concrete permeability and increases its durability and prevents
the corroding ions from reaching the surface of the steel rebars.

4. CONCLUSIONS

A partial replacement for Portland cement through supplementary cementitious materials can
be an ecological and viable option to prevent corrosion. In this work, the effect of BA admixture in
various concentrations into Portland cement on the electrochemical corrosion resistance of carbon steel
reinforced concrete was evaluated by EIS and polarization methods during immersion in 3.5 wt% NaCl
solution as marine environment. Reinforced concrete with 10 wt% BA was the most effective in
enhancing the corrosion resistance of the steel rebar due to the decrease of water absorptivity and
chloride ion permeability. The surface morphology of the samples indicate that irregularity and
separation structures on the steel rebars were improved by adding BA. The 10 wt% BA sample shows
lower corrosion current density than that of the other samples in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. The results
indicate that the BA as an admixture increases concert durability and prevents the corroding ions from
reaching to the surface of steel rebars which can be an alternative material in the development of
construction industry.

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