International Journal of Electrochemical Science to Publish Trial Results on Corrosion Inhibitors

The American University of Sharjah (AUS) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has carried out a test to assess the effectiveness of corrosion inhibitors employed in steel reinforced concrete that is used in construction.

The results of the study demonstrate that Rheocrete 222+, a combined organic corrosion inhibitor and water proofer offering from BASF Construction Chemicals to be the most effective. The International Journal of Electrochemical Science is set to publish the trial results after subjecting it to rigorous review. The trial results serve as the highest order of industry recognition for BASF whose product has already established its effectiveness in various projects worldwide.

The steel in reinforced concrete is corroded by chlorides and ground water. The resulting weakening of buildings necessitates extensive repair. It is considered prudent to take precautions at design stage itself especially in hot, humid and salty atmospheres prevalent in the Middle East. Corrosion inhibitors delay the onset of corrosion by forming a chemical film on the steel reinforcement. For their trial, AUS used three commercially available inhibitors viz. an anodic corrosion inhibitor (ACI), a Calcium Nitrate Inhibitor (CNI) and the dual formulation Rheocrete 222+ corrosion inhibitor. Four concrete beams of which three had corrosion inhibitor mixtures incorporated were used to construct a corrosion cell. The fourth beam acted as a control beam. Performance of the corrosion inhibitors were determined by assessing the corrosion mass loss theoretically by employing Faraday’s law. The results were further confirmed by visual observation of the samples that Rheocrete 222+ topped the other inhibitors.