Effect of Ceramic Waste Powder on Corrosion Resistance of Steel-Reinforced Concrete Beams

This study evaluates the corrosion resistance of steel reinforcement in beams cast with concrete containing ceramic waste powder (CWP) as a partial replacement for cement. The experimental parameters include water-to-binder ratio (0.45 and 0.5), and CWP content (0, 10, and 20% of cement weight). The longitudinal steel reinforcements were exposed to an anodic impressed voltage of 5 V DC for 964 and 2409 h to simulate two levels of corrosion. The capacity of the corroded beams was assessed using a four-point loading setup. It was found that CWP led to a significant reduction in corrosion density in the steel reinforcement due to decreased concrete permeability. Furthermore, both the uncorroded and 10%-corroded reinforced concrete beams containing 10% CWP exhibited enhancements of up to 13% in their flexural strength. CWP also helped increase the deformation ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the corroded reinforced concrete beams by up to 8 and 50%, respectively.