Effectiveness of inhibitors in increasing chloride threshold value for steel corrosion

This investigation was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of corrosion inhibitors in increasing the chloride threshold value for steel corrosion. Three types of corrosion inhibitors, calcium nitrite (Ca(NO2)2), zinc oxide (ZnO), and N,N′-dimethylaminoethanol (DMEA), which respectively represented the anodic inhibitor, cathodic inhibitor, and mixed inhibitor, were chosen. The experiment was carried out in a saturated calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) solution to simulate the electrolytic environment of concrete. The inhibitors were initially mixed at different levels, and then chloride ions were gradually added into the solution in several steps. The open-circuit potential (Ecorr) and corrosion current density (Icorr) determined by electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) were used to identify the initiation of active corrosion, thereby determining the chloride threshold value. It was found that although all the inhibitors were effective in decreasing the corrosion rate of steel reinforcement, they had a marginal effect on increasing the chloride threshold value.