Corrosion Inhibitors in Concrete

Abstract

Abstract Corrosion of reinforced concrete is causing the early failure of structures in environments where concrete is subjected to ingress of chlorides. One means of protecting the steel from corrosion is to add a corrosion inhibitor to the concrete. The advantages are that the inhibitor is distributed throughout the concrete protecting all the steel, and that concrete's low permeability prevents the inhibitor from being lost. The disadvantage is that the inhibitor must not be detrimental to concrete properties. In this paper a review of early research on concrete inhibitors is given and it is shown how the search for an inhibitor that did not adversely affect concrete properties led to the development and usage of calcium nitrite.