Influence of Mo alloying on pitting corrosion of stainless steels used as concrete reinforcement

Corrosion of reinforcement steels, induced by chloride ions penetrating into the concrete, is the main cause of early damage, loss of serviceability and safety of reinforced concrete structures, which can be even more severe in the presence of concomitant concrete carbonation. In order to prevent reinforcement steel corrosion in highly aggressive alkaline environments, the use of stainless steels is becoming increasingly popular in coastal and marine constructions. Although widely used as an increasing corrosion resistance element in acidic environments, the influence of Mo addition on pitting corrosion resistance of stainless steels is not very clear in these conditions. Understanding Mo mechanism on corrosion resistance in alkaline media is hence of major importance, particularly for new lean grades with low Nickel and Molybdenum contents which presents a good balance between the properties required in these applications and the final cost of the material. In this work we will show the effect of Mo addition on pitting corrosion properties of austenitic, ferritic and duplex SS. A comparison between Mo content steels (alloys: 1.4404, 1.4113 and 1.4462) and very low molybdenum contents steels (alloys: 1.4301, 1.4016 and 1.4362) is done considering their pitting corrosion resistance (pitting potential Epit) in different corrosion conditions. The results are discussed with respect to the influence of Mo addition on pitting behaviors for the different stainless steel rebar families in several aggressive media mainly in synthetic, chlorinated and carbonated solution reproducing the real concrete pore environments (pH10 solution with carbonates and chlorides ions).