Suitability of using simulated porous-like solutions to evaluate the steel corrosion in carbonated concrete

The use of simulated solutions is a common practice in corrosion studies to assess easily and quickly the corrosion behaviour of materials in real situations. In this context, it is frequent to substitute tests performed in concrete or mortar with tests performed in porous-like solutions. Particularly, to simulate carbonated concrete, different carbonated porous-like solutions (CPS) are found in the literature. However, it is not known whether the use of these solutions accurately predicts the behaviour of steel bars embedded in carbonated concrete. In the present work, a comparison between the corrosion behaviour of carbon steel in carbonated mortar and in different CPS was performed. It was found that none of the CPS studied in the present work adequately simulate the corrosion behaviour of the steel in carbonated mortar, but the CPS containing high concentrations of carbonates/bicarbonates is the only one that provides corrosion rates close to those obtained in carbonated concrete.