Anti-corrosion performance and microstructure analysis on a marine concrete utilizing coal combustion byproducts and blast furnace slag

Marine concrete structures are exposed to serious attack through a number of physical and chemical deterioration processes, which deserve special attention from worldwide scientists and policy makers. This paper presents a new approach to enhance the anti-corrosion ability for concrete composed of coal combustion byproducts and blast furnace slag. Based on the experimental results, it has been concluded that the concrete composed of pozzolanic material not only provides a great chance to utilize a huge amount of industrial solid waste but also performs much better in tests of compressive strength, anti-corrosion test, and chloride penetration rather than the ordinary Portland cement concrete. The microanalysis found that needle-shaped ettringite or Ca(OH)₂ crystals were presented dominantly in the microstructure of the early age hydration product, however, the amorphous C–S–H or C–A–S–H plays a more significant role in the middle to late curing age on mechanical properties and anti-corrosion abilities.