An Investigation on Corrosivity of Road Salt and Alternatives on Steel

ABSTRACT
Road salts are commonly applied for controlling snow and ice on the roads for safe and efficient operation of transportation systems. The application of rock salts, mostly used deicer, induces infrastructure problems and corrosion is a major one. Transportation agencies of cold countries spend millions of dollars annually fixing infrastructure, more specially corrosion related problems associated with the rock salts. Researchers and transportation stakeholders are concerned about the corrosion on the roadway infrastructures and are working to mitigate them in diverse ways. This study conducts laboratory experiments and determines the corrosivity of seven corrosion resistant road salts developed by Starstech, a South Korean manufacturer, comparing with traditional rock salt on steel rebar. The corrosion resistant salts along with rock salt were dissolved in deionized water separately for preparing brine solution. Steel rebar was submerged in each of brine solution for observing corrosivity. Change in color and weight of rebar at different durations were observed and reported. The outcome of this research is reported based on physical observations and change in weight of rebar after each cycle of submergence in different brine solutions. The formation of protective layer on the steel rebar for each of corrosion resistant brine solution was obvious from the visual observation. The loss in weight of rebar submerged in brine produced from traditional rock salt was higher than alternative salts. The outcome of alternative salts is promising as corrosion resistant dicer and may be suitable option for using in cold countries.