Role of alkaline nitrites in the corrosion performance of steel in composite cements

The influence of alkaline nitrites on the inhibition of corrosion of steel in binary and ternary cement environments was tested. pH measurements carried out for binary and ternary cement extracts showed that the alkalinity of the cement was not affected by making use of binary and ternary cements. Gravimetric measurements showed that the decrease in the corrosion rate of steel in different systems follows the order: Ternary > (OPC + PSC) > (OPC + PPC) > (PPC + PSC). Potential–time studies indicated that the ability to maintain the passivity of steel in different systems also follows the order as above. Potentiodynamic polarisation studies for steel in binary and ternary cement environments showed the favourable influence of the presence of higher amounts of chlorides. Nitrites of sodium, potassium and calcium act as anodic inhibitors and they compete with chloride ions for the ferrous ions at the steel to form a film of ferric oxide. An efficiency as high as 91% is obtained for the ternary system containing 1% chloride and 0.5% nitrite. The degree of surface coverage showed a maximum value for the ternary system (>0.9) even in the presence of a higher amount of chloride thereby indicating the better performance of the system.