Corrosion Resistance Properties of Rice Husk Ash Blended Concrete

Portland cement incorporating supplementary cementing material develops excellent mechanical properties and long term durability characteristics. India is a leading rice producing country and rice husk is considered as waste in the rice milling industries. In this present work, the rice husk ash (RHA) was added to concrete as cement replacement from 0 to 30%. Corrosion performance of reinforcing steel embedded in RHA blended concretes was studied using linear polarization, AC impedance and gravimetric methods. The corrosion rate of steel bars embedded in RHA concretes were compared with control concrete. The results clearly indicate that the corrosion rate of reinforcing steel embedded in concrete is significantly reduced with the incorporation of RHA. A good correlation among gravimetric method and electrochemical methods was observed. Electrochemical impedance study showed 98 percentage reduction in corrosion rate to the RHA blended concrete with 15% replacement than control concrete.