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Inelastic cyclic behaviour of as-received and pre-corroded S500s tempcore steel reinforcement
Ch. Alk. Apostolopoulos and C.A. Rodopoulos
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
Abstract
Purpose Seismic loading can induce signicant deformations to steel reinforcement. The recent approach suggested by Eurocode 8 indicates that steel reinforcement shall sustain repeated loading well within its elastic region, excluding by denition seismic loading. This paper aims to examine the behaviour of S500s steel reinforcement at strain ranges representing strains corresponding to small/medium earthquakes while signicant attention has been paid to cases where the reinforcement has been corroded as this is most representative to aged buildings. The work concludes that the complex behaviour of steel reinforcement under low cycle fatigue conditions can be successfully treated via the use of the viscous stress. The latter is found to be independent to corrosion exposure while it holds the merits of ductility exhaustion on which most degradation models are based. Design/methodology/approach This paper establishes a relationship between the cumulative effect of low cycle fatigue and that of the viscous stress. Findings The work identies that the viscous stress follows an exponential growth behaviour which terminates at a plateau. The plateau value is found to be independent to corrosion exposure and strain rate and hence providing a strong potential for being a characteristic indicator of the behaviour of steel reinforcement under realistic inelastic loading. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to S500s grade steel. Further study on different steel grades is necessary to increase the potential of viscous stress. Originality/value The signicance of this paper is the introduction of viscous stress in an area where traditional approaches of cumulative damage are based on a large number of empirical parameters and assumptions. Keywords Mechanical behaviour of materials, Steel, Stress (materials), Reinforcement, Viscosity Paper type Research paper

International Journal of Structural Integrity Vol. 1 No. 1, 2010 pp. 52-62 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1757-9864 DOI 10.1108/17579861011023793

Introduction Since the 1970s, there is a growing research interest towards the fatigue response of high-yield steel reinforcement (from now on called rebars; Tilly, 1979; Highway Research Board, 1962; ACI Committee 215, 1974). Rebars represent the basic strengthening element of steel reinforced concrete, RC, structures and are responsible for carrying, distributing and controlling loads and displacements. Cyclic loading in the form of constant amplitude or spectra is mainly due to the growing use of RC in bridges, towers, offshore structures and buildings founded in earthquake zones (ACI Committee 215, 1974; Chang and Mander, 1994). Despite the fact that in the last 20-30 years rebar production has doubled to 100 million t/year, while it constantly retains the 10 per cent of steel production, the cyclic behaviour of rebars has

received little attention and is mainly concentrated in the region of elastic loading (S/N curves; Hellenic Regulation for the Technology of Steel in Reinforced Concrete, 2008) regardless of the design requirements under seismic response conditions where rebars are expected to deform into inelastic range and dissipate energy via a stable hysteretic behaviour. This is because severe ground motion can result into cracking of concrete, leaving the rebars governing the response of the RC section (Filipou et al., 1983). Although, the cumulative nature of fatigue damage is generally recognised as an implicit factor controlling total life, current design practise and codes fail to recognise the effect of non-peak inelastic cycles (Chai, 2005). This is particularly hazardous in the case of long-duration ground motion or in the case of multiple seismic events with pre or after shocks combined with the main shock. Accelerograms taken from Mexico City indicate that ground motion events can have a random behaviour both in terms of magnitude and duration (Ordaz and Singh, 1993). In the same work, ground motions ranging from 55-215 centimeter per square second and with duration range between 2.9 up to 32 second have been reported. The above two factors represent a critical input in terms of identifying the magnitude of seismic energy contributing to damage in relation to the cyclic plastic energy capacity of the structure (Chai et al., 1998). The potential of rebars being the self-governing and most critical constituent phase to the response of RC structures is further reinforced in cases where the volumetric expansion of corrosion products has caused spalling of concrete cover and interfacial bond strength degradation (Chang et al., 1999; Maslehuddin et al., 1983; Fang et al., 2004). Measurements taken from corroded reinforcement in buildings still in public use and in locations of signicant seismic propensity have shown that mass loss could be as much as 18 per cent (Apostolopoulos, 2007). In Apostolopoulos et al. (2006), it was also shown that corrosion of rebars degrades their tensile mechanical strength and ductility properties to levels below the minimum required values set by the Hellenic Standard ELOT 971 (1994). In this work, the authors attempt to compare and explain the inelastic cyclic response of as-received and pre-corroded S500s grade steel rebar and identify the mechanisms of failure. Herein, it is also necessary to note that terminologically inelastic cyclic loading is also referred as low cycle fatigue or extremely low cycle fatigue. Experimental procedure and results Tempcore S500s ribbed rebar of nominal diameter 12 millimeter was received from a Greek steel manufacturer. S500s rebars have extensively been used in Greece during the period 1987-2006. The chemical composition is shown in Table I. The material has a minimum yield stress of Rp 500 MPa, minimum fracture strength of Rm 550 MPa and minimum elongation at failure of 12 per cent. The tempcoring process consists of three stages. During the rst stage, hot austenite at , 1,0008C (surface temperature) is quenched with water down to 2808C. At the end of this process the rebars have an austenite core surrounded by a layer
C As-received ELOT 1421 (ELOT 971, 1994) 0.21 , 0.24 P 0.018 , 0.055 S 0.030 , 0.055 N 0.009 , 0.014 Mn 0.96 Fe Remaining Remaining

Inelastic cyclic behaviour

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Table I. Chemical composition of as-received S500s against national standards

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composed of a mixture of austenite and martensite. The duration of this rst stage mainly controls the thickness of the martensite layer. The second stage involves air cooling. At the beginning of this stage the temperature of the core is around 9008C which by induction reheats the surface to temperatures close to 7808C. This results into self-tempering of martensite. The third stage involves nal cooling on a bed. This delivers a quasi-isothermal transformation of the remaining austenite leading to a mixture of two phase ferrite-pearlite (polygonal ferrite and pearlite) and bainite. From the above, it is also understood that the percentage of martensite also depends on the diameter to be produced while the nal product (rebar) should be considered as a composite material. A typical cross section of the rebar shown in Figure 1. Prior to testing, cross sections of the rebars were examined under scanning electron microscope (Philips XL40) after successive polishing to a surface roughness of Ra , 0.8 micrometer. The analysis revealed extensive porosity close to the surface (martensite layer; Figure 2). 3D surface prolometry revealed that the porosity can reached depths larger or equal to 55-72 micrometer as shown in Figure 3. The number is only indicative since the actual tip of the pore is unknown. Energy dispersion X-ray analysis was performed at different locations including the pores. Results from the pores indicate the presence of O and Cu. Typical results are shown in Figure 4.
Martensite

Bainite

Figure 1. Optical view of the phases consisting S500s tempcore after Nital etching

Two phase ferrite-pearlite

Figure 2. Extensive porosity found in the martensite layer

z
55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0.0080 60 65 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 0.0020 0.0060 0.0040 x/mm

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0.016

0.012 0.0040 0 0.014 0.012

y/mm

0.01

0.0080

(a)

(b)

Notes: (a) The selected pore; (b) the corresponding 3D morphology

Figure 3. Indicative analysis of pore morphology

The amount of oxygen found is high enough as to be primarily attributed to the large amounts of oxygen used during the hearth operation (EUROFER, 2007). Copper content should be attributed to the quality of the scrap metal used. Strain control cyclic tests were performed in fully reversed loading without the use of anti-buckling device. The latter was due to the fact that under realistic seismic conditions, rebars are prone to buckling between stir-ups. The phenomenon has received increasing scientic attention in the last years indicating that the post-buckling hysteretic behaviour should primarily control the potential of rebars to dissipate seismic energy (Chai et al., 1998). Testing of as-received material was performed in a 250KN MTS servo-hydraulic rig at a frequency of 1 hertz and at three different (D1 ranges, namely: 2, 5 and 8 per cent. The strain amplitude was chosen in order to replicate typical seismic response (Franchi et al., 1996; Pipa and Vercesi, 1996; Pipa et al., 1994). The above ranges should be considered as mediocre since values as high as D1 28 per cent have been reported (Sheng and Gong, 1997). In addition, rebars were exposed in salt-spray environment according to ASTM B117. This accelerated corrosion tests was selected as being closer to the case where a structural member of a building has experienced failure of its concrete cover while its locality is close to sea front. The salt solution was prepared by dissolving ve parts by mass of sodium chloride (NaCl) into 95 parts of distilled water. The pH of the salt spray solution was such that when dissolved at 358C the solution was in the pH range of 6.5-7.2. The duration of exposure was 45 and 90 days. After exposure and prior to testing the specimens were cleaned from the corrosion products. During all tests the hysteretic loop was recorded. Typical results are shown in Figure 5. In general the material experiences a continuous softening degradation mechanism up to failure. Further analysis is provided in the next section. The total number of cycles to failure is shown in Table II. Herein, it is easily understood that at high strains, the effect of corrosion in controlling cyclic loading resistance becomes independent to corrosion exposure. Analysis of results and discussion The breakdown of a hysteretic loop in isotropic stress (R), backstress (X) and viscous stress (sv) is known to provide an efcient tool in understanding the mechanisms

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Point B

56
Point A

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 4.

Notes: (a) Backscattered image of the cross section. Point A indicates the location for EDX analysis away from the pore (b) and Point B indicates the EDX analysis at the pore (c)

800 600 400 Stress (MPa) 200 0 200 400 600

S500s, = 8%, as-received

800 600 400 Stress (MPa) 200 0 200 400 600

S500s, = 5%, as-received

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Hysteretic loop 0.00 Strain 0.01 0.02 0.03

Hysteretic loop 0.00 Strain 0.02 0.04 0.06

800 0.06 0.04 0.02

800 0.03 0.02 0.01

(a)
800 600 400 Stress (MPa) Stress (MPa) 200 0 200 400 600 800 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.00 Strain Hysteretic loop 0.02 0.04 0.06 S500s, = 8%, 45 days 800 600 400 200 0 200 400 600 800 0.03 0.02 0.01

(b)
S500s, = 5%, 45 days

Hysteretic loop 0.00 Strain 0.01 0.02 0.03

(c) (d) Notes: (a)-(b) As-received at strain range of 8 and 5 per cent and (c)-(d) the corresponding behaviour after 45 days of salt spray exposure; in every case, the loading sequence is compression tension

Figure 5. Typical behaviour of hysteretic loop

Condition As-received 45 days of exposure 90 days of exposure

D1 2% 529 335 263

D1 5% 28 26 23

D1 8% 10 9 8

Table II. Average number of cycles to failure (of three tests) of as-received and corroded S500s

governing cyclic failure, especially in the case of large plastic strains (Rees, 1981; Feaugeas, 1999; Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf and Laird, 1979; Honycombe, 1968; Cottrell, 1953). The breakdown of a hysteretic loop is schematically shown in Figure 6. Plastic straining in polycrystals develops dislocation walls and subgrain boundaries. The above create long-range internal stresses due to strain incompatibility and leads to easier reverse ow. This mechanism is associated to the backstress (also known as internal). Additionally, the isotropic stress is the stress locally required for a dislocation to move and is related to short range stresses like friction stress (crystal lattice, solutes, etc.) and stresses from dislocation forests. Finally, the viscous stress controls the transition from viscous rupturing to brittle fracture (Honycombe, 1968). In general, the behaviour of the viscous stress indicates the creation and propagation of micro-cracks in a stable manner related to the potential external energy and the instability (unsteady mode) in terms of critical crack coalescence. It is also imperative

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semax

smax sV R

58

Elastic part

X e semin

Figure 6. Partitioning of hysteretic loop according to Cottrell (1953)

Notes: The parameters smax, se max and se min are the peak stress and the upper and lower bound of the elastic part of half the hysteretic loop, respectively

to note that the viscous stress can more clearly preserve information regarding buckling histories while components X and R have the tendency to lter them via successive accumulation effects. The hysteretic breakdown components are given by: smax se min 1 X 2 sv smax 2 se max 2 R

se max 2 se min 2

A typical response of viscous stress for the whole range of the experimental matrix is shown in Figure 7. Generally speaking, in every case, the viscous stress shows a similar tendency to increase, to saturate and nally to decrease. In the as-received condition it can be clearly seen that the rate towards saturation increases with strain. In this case the effect of material to control buckling can be seen at the viscous stress of the rst cycle. The term control is used in quotation marks since buckling is assumed to take place as a post-yield condition. Herein, at D1 2 per cent the viscous stress initiates at 49 MPa followed by 65 and 85 MPa for D1 5 and 8 per cent, respectively. After 45 days of salt spray exposure, the corresponding initial viscous stress values are 80, 96 and 105 MPa indicating increasing tendency to buckling. In the case, however, of 90 days, the initial viscous stress value, at around 120 MPa, becomes independent to strain range indicating that the response of the rebars to the rst loading cycle is common. This could be attributed to the fact that after 90 days of exposure the rebars have developed severe stress concentrations (pitting) which in turn has induced an additional geometric affect to their buckling behaviour (Apostolopoulos and Papadakis, 2007).

180 Viscous stress (MPa) 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 1 10 100 Cycles to failure 1,000
S500s, = 8%, as-received S500s, = 5%, as-received S500s, = 2%, as-received

200 Viscous stress (MPa) 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 1 10 100 Cycles to failure 1,000
S500s, = 2%, 45 days S500s, = 5%, 45 days S500s, = 8%, 45 days

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59

(a)
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 1

(b)

Viscous stress (MPa)

S500s, = 2%, 90 days S500s, = 5%, 90 days S500s, = 8%, 90 days

10 100 Cycles to failure

1,000

(c) Notes: (a) As-received; (b) 45 days; (c) 90 days; the arrows indicate the transition towards brittle fracture; the rectangular section is used to indicate a bound of values where the viscous stress is independent to strain range and corrosion exposure

Figure 7. Behaviour of viscous stress with strain range and exposure time

In all cases, the reader can identify that there is a value of viscous stress at approximately 150 MPa over which the viscous stress tends to saturation. Once this value is reached the ability of the rebar to dissipate energy via positioning and movement of dislocations has been exhausted (ductility exhaustion) while micro-cracking is eminent. The development of micro-cracking will gradually relax the viscous stress up to the point where the density of micro-cracks is such as to lead to local interaction effects (strain amplication) and crack coalescence (failure eminent). It is therefore reasonable to assume the viscous stress value of 150 MPa is critical for the remaining energy dissipation capacity of S500s. To further reinforce the above rational it is imperative to note that: . The value is independent to corrosion exposure, same value is obtained also for the as-received and pre-corroded rebars. . The value is independent to strain range. The latter is found barely to control the number of cycles to critical value. Fractographic analysis To better understand the progression of damage and the effect of porosity found in the as-received rebar fractographic analysis was performed. Figure 8(a) shows the fracture

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Rupture parallel to loading

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60
Ruptures

(a)

(b)

Ruputure Crack Embrittlement

Ruputure Crack

(c)

(d)

Figure 8. Indicative images taken from the fracture surface of as-received and corroded S500s

(e)

surface of the as-received rebar at D1 2 per cent. Herein, the black arrows indicate multiple-crack initiation. The white arrow indicates rupture parallel to loading direction. The rupture can be attributed to the presence of pores found ahead of the crack tip. Similar behaviour is shown in the case of the as-received D1 5 per cent, Figure 8(b). Herein, the role of porosity is further reinforced by the presence of ruptures found away from the cracks. In this case, the ruptures were the result of the higher strain range. Similar behaviour was found in the case of as-received rebars at D1 8 per cent. In the case of 45 days at D1 5 per cent, failure was due to a synergistic effect of cracking/ruptures, Figure 8(c) as well as embrittlement zones, Figure 8(d). Extensive embrittlement was also found in the case of 90 days at D1 2 per cent, Figure 8(e). Embrittlement was never

observed in the as-received state. In every case, embrittlement zones were observed at a maximum depth of 0.34 millimeter and 0.8 millimeter for the case of 45 and 90 days, respectively, (martensite layer). The embrittlement shall be related to the production of hydrogen during the iron dissolution in the pitting process (Broomeld, 2007). Conclusions In this work, the inelastic cyclic behaviour of ribbed S500s tempcore steel reinforcement is presented. In the as-received state the material was found to contain extensive porosity potentially due to trapped oxygen. Cu residues were also found at the pores related to the scrap metal. Rebars were subjected to inelastic fully reversed loading at different strain ranges and comparison of the hysteretic loops was performed into those representing the as-received state and after 45 and 90 days of slat-spray exposure. The results indicate that only in the case of D1 2 per cent there is a clear degradation due to corrosion in terms of cycles to failure. In the case of D1 5 and 8 per cent, the total cycles to failure appear to be independent to corrosion time. Breakdown of the hysteretic loops and examination of the viscous stress indicate that there is a critical value of 150 MPa after which failure of the S500s is eminent due to rupturing. Progression towards such critical value was found to be the main controlling parameter towards the ability of S500s to dissipate energy with time. Fractographic analysis revealed that failure in the as-received state was due to the synergistic effect of crack progression and porosity ruptures. In the corroded state, hydrogen embrittlement zones were also identied as an additional damage mechanism. Yet, the critical value of the viscous stress was found to be independent to hydrogen embrittlement predominantly due to its limited depth of penetration.
References ACI Committee 215 (1974), Considerations for design of concrete structures subjected to fatigue loading, ACI J. Proc., Vol. 71, pp. 97-121. Apostolopoulos, C.A. (2007), Mechanical behaviour of corroded reinforcing steel bars S500s tempcore under low cycle fatigue, Construction and Building Materials, Vol. 21, pp. 1447-56. Apostolopoulos, C.A. and Papadakis, V.G. (2007), Consequences of steel corrosion on the ductility properties of reinforcement bar, Construction and Building Materials, Vol. 22 No. 12, pp. 2316-24. Apostolopoulos, C.A., Papadopoulos, M.P. and Pantelakis, S.G. (2006), Tensile behaviour of corroded reinforcing steel bars BSt500s, Construction and Building Materials, Vol. 20 No. 9, pp. 782-9. Broomeld, J. (2007), Corrosion of Steel in Concrete, 2nd ed., Taylor and Francis, London. Chai, Y.H. (2005), Incorporating low cycle fatigue model into duration-dependent inelastic design spectra, Earthquake Engng. Struct. Dyn., Vol. 34, pp. 83-96. Chai, Y.H., Faifar, P. and Romstad, K.M. (1998), Formulation of duration-dependent inelastic seismic design spectrum, J. Struct. Engng (ASCE), Vol. 124 No. 8, pp. 913-21. Chang, G. and Mander, J. (1994), Seismic energy based fatigue damage analysis of bridge columns: part I evaluation of seismic capacity, NCEER Technical Report: 000694, National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY. Chang, J.J., Yeih, W. and Huang, R. (1999), Degradation of the bond strength between rebar and concrete due to the impressed cathodic current, J. Marine Sci. Tech., Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 89-93.

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Cottrell, A.H. (1953), Dislocation and Plastic Flow in Crystals, Oxford University Press, Oxford. ELOT 971 (1994), Weldable Steels for the Reinforcement of Concrete, Hellenic Government Gazette, Athens, April 1. EUROFER (2007), Networking in European Steel Research, Hellenic Government Gazette, Athens. Fang, C., Lundgren, K., Chen, L. and Zhu, C. (2004), Corrosion inuence on bond in reinforced concrete, Cement Concr. Res., Vol. 34 No. 11, pp. 2159-67. Feaugeas, X. (1999), On the origin of tensile ow stress in the stainless steel AISI 316L at 300K: back stress and effective stress, Acta Mater., Vol. 47 No. 13, pp. 3617-32. Filipou, F.C., Popov, E.P. and Bertero, V.V. (1983), Effect of bond deterioration on hysteretic behaviour of reinforced concrete joints, Report UCB/EERC-83/19, Earthquake Engineering Research Centre, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Franchi, A., Riva, P., Ronca, P., Roberti, R. and La Vecchia, M. (1996), Failure modalities of reinforcement bars in reinforced concrete elements under cyclic loading, Studi e rocerche, Vol. 17, pp. 157-87. Hellenic Regulation for the Technology of Steel in Reinforced Concrete (2008), Hellenic Government Gazette 2113/B/13.10.2008, Hellenic Government Gazette, Athens. Highway Research Board (1962), The AASHO road test report 4 bridge research, Special Report 61 D, Highway Research Board, National Research Council, Washington, DC. Honycombe, R.W. (1968), Plastic Deformation of Metals, St Martins Press, New York, NY. Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf, D. and Laird, C. (1979), Dislocation behaviour in fatigue: II friction stress and back stress as inferred from an analysis of hysteretic loops, Mat. Sci. Engng., Vol. 37, pp. 111-20. Maslehuddin, M., Ibrahim, I.M., Huseyin, S. and Al-Mana, A.L. (1983), Inuence of atmospheric corrosion on the mechanical properties of reinforcing steel, Constr. Build. Mater., Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 35-41. Ordaz, M. and Singh, S.K. (1993), Source spectra and spectral attenuation of seismic waves from Mexican earthquakes, and evidence of amplication in the hill zone of Mexico City, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 82, pp. 24-43. Pipa, M. and Vercesi, A. (1996), Cyclic tests of grade B400 and B500 tempcore bars, PREC8 Report, LNEC, Lisbon. Pipa, M., Carvalho, E.C. and Otes, A. (1994), Experimental behaviour of R.C. Beams with grade 500 steel, Proceedings of 10th European Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Vienna. Rees, D.W.A. (1981), Anisotropic hardening theory and the Bauschinger effect, J. Strain Anal., Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 85-95. Sheng, G.M. and Gong, S.H. (1997), Investigation of low cycle fatigue behavior of building structural steels under earthquake loading, Acta Metall. Sin. (English letters), Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 51-5. Tilly, G.P. (1979), Fatigue of steel reinforcement bars in concrete: a review, Fatigue of Engineering Materials and Structures, Vol. 2, pp. 251-68. Corresponding author Ch. Alk. Apostolopoulos can be contacted at: charrisa@mech.upatras.gr To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints