The corrosion resistance of white ultra-high performance concrete under the coupling environment of acid rain and carbonization

Abstract

Acid rain and carbonization are two primary types of environmental corrosion that threaten the health of urban concrete structures over time. However, the coupling effects of acid rain and carbonization on concrete deterioration have been rarely reported. In this paper, four coupling regimes were designed using accelerated simulation experiments to investigate the deterioration properties of white ultra-high performance concrete (WUHPC). The results showed that under acid rain corrosion, the WUHPC surface was covered with white crystals before peeling off after 7 days, resulting first in an increase, followed by a rapid decrease in weight and strength, and the erosion depth linearly increased at a rate of 33.0 μm per day. Meanwhile, negligible changes occurred with only carbonization. However, under coupling corrosion, the deterioration worsened after environmental alternation. The strength of WUHPC with acid rain after carbonization decreased by 27.7%, reaching a minimum of 72.0 MPa. The erosion depth growth under acid rain followed by carbonization was 20.0 μm per day, which was much faster than that (3.9 μm per day) of single carbonization. The major corrosion products under acid rain were gypsum crystal, and the crystal shrank with time, leaving more voids and a weakened bonding strength. The calcium carbonate sediment generated during carbonization blocked the pores on the surface, hindered the diffusion of acid solution, and partly consumed acid ions via dissolution, resulting in facilitated acid rain corrosion. Once carbonate was consumed in a short time, more capillary pores were unblocked to promote further acid rain corrosion.