Steel corrosion and corrosion-induced cracking in recycled aggregate concrete

This study investigated four reinforced concrete mixtures with different replacement percentages of recycled coarse aggregate (RA). The corrosion rate was measured using an electrochemical workstation, and the corrosion-induced cracks on the concrete surface were observed using digital microscopy. The results show that the use of RA introduces more interfaces in concrete, which accelerates the steel corrosion process and corrosion-induced crack propagation in concrete cover. However, steel corrosion and the corrosion-induced cracking process in concrete are not significantly influenced by replacing a small amount (33% in the study) of coarse aggregate with RA.