Concrete deterioration: causes, diagnosis, and minimising risk

Concrete may deteriorate due to inadequate design and construction practice s, lack of maintenance, or because an inadequate concrete was specified. Th is review concentrates on the material aspects of concrete deterioration. T he most common, and serious, cause of deterioration in structural concrete members is due to corrosion of reinforcing steel induced by chloride ion in gress into concrete. Other less common causes of deterioration in concrete are freeze-thaw attack, carbonation induced corrosion, alkali-silica reacti on, and external and internal chemical attack. In the present review, the c auses, diagnosis, and measures to minimise deterioration in new concrete co nstruction are discussed. (C) 2001 IoM Communications Ltd and ASM Internati onal.