Corrosion resistant reinforcements (CRR) have been studied increasingly over the past decade as alternatives
to black bar and epoxy-coated reinforcement for concrete bridges and other structures exposed to chlorides. The
present paper reports results of experiments where three different concrete specimen configurations reinforced
with a series of CRR, as well as black bar, underwent long-term chloride exposure. Alloys studied were 3Cr12
(UNS-S41003), 2101LDX (ASTM A955-98), 2304 (UNS-S32304), and 316L (UNS S31603) stainless steels, two
316 stainless steel clad black bar products, MMFX-2 (ASTM A1035), and black bar (ASTM A615). Time-tocorrosion
initiation, Ti, and the critical [Cl-] to initiate corrosion, CT, were determined, with the distributed nature
of these two parameters, as opposed to their having a discrete value, being emphasized. Results are expressed in
terms of the extent to which Ti and CT exceeded that for black bar. The effect of concrete quality upon CRR
performance is discussed, and an example life-cycle analysis that compares Ti for CRR compared to black bar is
provided.
Key words: Corrosion resistant reinforcement, concrete, stainless steel, MMFX-2, chlorides, time-to-corrosion,
chloride threshold, service life projection