Corrosion Behavior of AISI 304 Stainless Steel Reinforcements in SCBA-SF Ternary Ecological Concrete Exposed to MgSO₄

In this study, ternary ecological concrete (TEC) mixtures were produced with partial substitution of the ordinary Portland cement (OPC) by 10%, 20%, and 30% of sugar cane bagasse ash (SCBA) and silica fume (SF); a control mixture (100% OPC) was prepared according to ACI 211.1 standard. The studied TEC specimens were reinforced with AISI 304 stainless steel and AISI 1018 carbon steel rebars. TEC reinforced specimens were immersed in two different electrolytes, a control (DI-water) and 3.5 wt.% MgSO₄ solution, for 180 days. The electrochemical corrosion was monitored by corrosion potential (E_corr) according to ASTM C-876-15 standard, and the linear polarization resistance (LPR) technique using ASTM G59 standard. The E_corr and current density i_corr results show that AISI 304 stainless steel rebars have a high corrosion resistance, with i_corr values below 0.1 µA/cm², which is interpreted as a level of negligible corrosion. The best corrosion performance was found for the TEC mixture made with a 20% addition of blend of sugar cane bagasse ash-silica fume (SCBA-SF) to the OPC.